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Turnover of vascular plant species on small islands in lake Möckeln, South Sweden 1976–1980

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Summary

In 1976, 1978 and 1980 plant species were recorded on 41 forested islands. Apparent species turnover was much higher than true turnover, as was confirmed by recording the age of trees and shrubs in 1980. Extinction rate was negatively correlated with island area and the number of immigrations declined with distance to the mailand. No clear differences in turnover were found for species with different dispersal systems. The proportion of the species populations on an island that consisted of only one individual declined with increasing island area. Conversely, species with 75 or more individuals made up about 17% of the floras on the smallest but about 32% on the largest islands. The results of this study suggest that MacArthur and Wilson's theory of island biogeography is applicable to plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Ecology, University of Lund, S-223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Ingvar N. Nilsson & Sven G. Nilsson

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Uppsala, Box 561, S-751 22, Uppsala, Sweden

    Ingvar N. Nilsson & Sven G. Nilsson

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  1. Ingvar N. Nilsson
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  2. Sven G. Nilsson
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Nilsson, I.N., Nilsson, S.G. Turnover of vascular plant species on small islands in lake Möckeln, South Sweden 1976–1980. Oecologia 53, 128–133 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377147

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377147

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