Island and island‐like marine environments

Abstract

Islands are pieces of land entirely surrounded by sea on which terrestrial and marine organisms live as little as a few metres apart. Yet, in contrast to terrestrial species, marine species have attracted little attention in studies of island theory. The experimental and conceptual origins of this dichotomy date back to the 1970s, although the apposition has softened in the early 2000s, in part a consequence of phylogeographic analyses and the discovery of new marine environments. Here, I explore the possible range of island and island-like settings in the marine realm and find good evidence, albeit in short supply, for integrating marine with terrestrial perspectives during the current transition from equilibrium to general dynamic models of island biogeography. This integration of marine systems into island theory will be facilitated by three advances: (1) development of many descriptive marine studies to reduce the current deficit, (2) design of rigorous comparative studies within and across realms, and (3) modification of conceptual models to unite seemingly disparate situations, for example describing islands in terms of ecological-evolutionary processes. Marine island biogeography is in its infancy; it may present situations that are uncommon in the existing literature, but not rare in nature, and thus contribute substantially to the new dynamic outlook on a halfcentury-old theme.

Characteristics of meiofauna in extreme marine ecosystems: a review

“…In some caves of volcanic origin, hydrogen sulphide can reach concentrations of > 300 μM (Riesch et al 2010). These habitats host a unique fauna (Iliffe and Kornicker 2009;Juan et al 2010) and because they represent independent evolutionary trajectories of adaptations to similar conditions, similar to islands for the terrestrial environment, they are considered one of the most important habitats to study marine island biogeography (Dawson 2016).…”

Towards a ‘Sea‐Level Sensitive’ dynamic model: impact of island ontogeny and glacio‐eustasy on global patterns of marine island biogeography

“…In comparison, a search for ‘island species–area relationship(s)’ yielded only 552 results and even fewer results when coupled with ‘climate change’ (137), ‘oceanic islands’ (69) or ‘Quaternary’ (36). Nevertheless, Dawson () verified impressive asymmetrical emphasis within insular biota research, with island terrestrial biogeography providing the vast majority of the 1,201 articles produced during the period 1968–2015, whereas only 69 dealt with freshwater systems, and merely 31 considered marine systems.…”

“…Heaney, , ; Lomolino, ; Lomolino & Brown, ). There is also a need for expansion of island biogeography theory to integrate marine systems (Dawson, ). To accomplish both tasks, a holistic approach is necessary, capable of integrating scientific disciplines as diverse as taxonomy, biogeography, marine biology, volcanology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, geochronology and geomorphology.…”

Determinants of reef fish assemblages in tropical Oceanic islands

“…Oceanic islands are those that have never been connected to a continent (Dawson 2015) and encompass a wide range of topography, size, age, available area, nutrient availability, and isolation, yielding a variety of unique habitats and species assemblages (MacArthur and Wilson 1967, Losos and Schluter 2000, Brown 2014). These factors affect colonization, speciation and extinction rates, making oceanic islands excellent candidates for ecological and evolutionary studies (Dawson 2015, Hachich et al 2015, Pinheiro et al 2017. Marine faunas on oceanic islands are vulnerable to habitat destruction, fragmentation, overfishing and the introduction of invasive species (Jackson et al 2001, Triantis et al 2010.…”