Island biogeography tries to explain the common patterns of biodiversity in environments which, as they are in some way isolated from their surroundings, can be considered islands from the point of view of the species that inhabit them. Island biogeography concentrates on the ecological phenomena of immigration, colonization and local population extinction; evolutionary phenomena that take place on islands are also considered. The starting point of island biogeography can be traced back to the early observations by Charles Darwin (q. v.) on the fauna of the Galapagos Islands; later contributors, most notably R. MacArthur and E.O. Wilson, promoted it to the level of an ecological theory in its own right. Thus, island biogeographical principles have deeply influenced modern ecological and evolutionary thought.
At least two reasons justify the long-standing interest of life scientists in islands. First, island environments are usually simple compared to the mainland: small size and...
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© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Villa, F. (1999). Island biogeography . In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_191
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_191
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