The Meaning of z in Species/Area Regressions and the Study of Species Turnover in Island Biogeography

Abbott, Ian

doi:10.2307/3544097

Cited by 64 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A major stumbling block to resolving this issue is that the type of long-term, largescale data sets needed are rare. Furthermore, most of the few long-term data sets in existence are plagued by nonstandardized sampling, or attempts to sample islands that are too large or at inappropriate seasons, resulting in incomplete or unreliable data (Abbott 1983;Nilsson 1983, 1985;Honer and Greuter 1988;Whittaker et al 2000). I previously reported the results of a 4-year study of the metapopulation dynamics of plants in a single Bahamian archipelago (Morrison 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species persistence and turnover on small Bahamian islands

Morrison

2003

Oecologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

I conducted surveys of the plant species occupying 136 small islands in the Exuma Cays and 58 small islands near Andros, Bahamas. Most species occurred on relatively few islands, and most islands contained relatively few species. Identities of the most common species differed between the two archipelagos. Comparisons with earlier surveys revealed species extinctions and immigrations. Turnover was relatively low on both a per island and a per species basis on both archipelagos, although significant spatial variation in turnover rates between archipelagos was found. Most islands experienced no turnover; islands on which turnover did occur were larger and had higher species richness. Likewise, most species did not turnover, although much variation existed in turnover rates among those that did. Experimental introductions of two species to very small islands naturally devoid of vegetation revealed that these islands could support plant life. One species survived on eight of ten islands for >9 years, including the effects of a moderate (class 2) hurricane. This hurricane caused substantial damage and loss of plant biomass, but resulted in no species extinctions on 30 small islands. Data for the small islands in this region, now spanning almost a decade, reveal that most populations are persistent over periods of years to decades, rarely going extinct or immigrating. Even moderate hurricanes seem to have little impact on species compositions.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species persistence and turnover on small Bahamian islands

Morrison

2003

Oecologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…If extinction and colonization are largely governed by fragment size and isolation, respectively, then big, isolated fragments should have slower species turnover than do small, weakly isolated fragments. Demonstrating such relationships is a litmus test for IBT (Gilbert, 1980;Abbott, 1983) because other biogeographic phenomena, such as the species-area relationship, can arise for reasons aside from those hypothesized by IBT (for example, higher habitat diversity, rather than lower extinction rates, can cause species richness to increase on larger islands; Boecklen and Gotelli, 1984;Ricklefs and Lovette, 1999). Given its central importance to the theory, it is perhaps surprising that relatively few IBT studies have demonstrated elevated turnover (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory meets reality: How habitat fragmentation research has transcended island biogeographic theory

Laurance

2008

Biological Conservation

489

344

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…If extinction and colonization are largely governed by fragment size and isolation, respectively, then big, isolated fragments should have slower species turnover than do Beyond Island Biogeography Theory • 217 small, weakly isolated fragments. Demonstration of such relationships is a litmus test for IBT (Gilbert 1980, Abbott 1983) because other biogeographic phenomena, such as the species-area relationship, can arise for reasons aside from those hypothesized by IBT (for example, higher habitat diversity, rather than lower extinction rates, can cause species richness to increase on larger islands; Boecklen andGotelli 1984, Ricklefs andLovette 1999). Given its central importance, it is perhaps surprising that only a modest subset of all IBT studies has demonstrated elevated turnover (e.g., Diamond 1969, Wright 1985, Honer and Greuter 1988, Schmigelow et al 1997-and even these have often been controversial (Simberloff 1976, Diamond and May 1977, Morrison 2003reviewed in Schoener, this volume).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Island Biogeography Theory

Laurance¹

2009

The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

has also had an enormous impact on conservation biology. The theory has inspired much thinking about the importance of reserve size and connectivity in the maintenance of species diversity, and stimulated an avalanche of research on fragmented ecosystems. But, like all general models, IBT is a caricature of reality, capturing just a few important elements of a system while ignoring many others. Does it provide a useful model for understanding contemporary habitat fragmentation?Here I critically evaluate the conceptual utility and limitations of IBT for the study of fragmented ecosystems. I briefl y encapsulate the historical background, considering how IBT has helped to shape our thinking about habitat fragmentation over the past forty years. I then describe how fragmentation research has transcended the theory, using fi ndings from tropical and other ecosystems.The Impact of IBT Prior to MacArthur and Wilson's (1967) seminal book, habitat fragmentation was not high on the radar screen of most ecologists, land managers, and politicians. That all changed with IBT (Powledge 2003). The theory has helped to revolutionize the thinking of mainstream ecologists about habitat fragmentation and stimulated literally thousands of studies of fragmented and insular ecosystems (fi gure 8.1).Before summarizing some key conceptual advances linked to IBT, I have two caveats. First, in discussing the impact of IBT on fragmentation research, it can be diffi cult to distinguish between the contributions of Go here for book information

show abstract

The Meaning of z in Species/Area Regressions and the Study of Species Turnover in Island Biogeography

Cited by 64 publications

References 31 publications

Plant species persistence and turnover on small Bahamian islands

Plant species persistence and turnover on small Bahamian islands

Theory meets reality: How habitat fragmentation research has transcended island biogeographic theory

Beyond Island Biogeography Theory

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About