Island Environments in a Changing World

by Lawrence R. Walker , Peter Bellingham

• ISBN13: 9780521732475
• ISBN10: 0521732476
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Islands represent unique opportunities to examine human interaction with the natural environment. They capture the human imagination as remote, vulnerable and exotic, yet there is comparatively little understanding of their basic geology, geography, or the impact of island colonization by plants, animals and humans. This detailed study of island environments focuses on nine island groups, including Hawaii, New Zealand and the British Isles, exploring their differing geology, geography, climate and soils, as well as the varying effects of human actions. It illustrates the natural and anthropogenic disturbances common to island groups, all of which face an uncertain future clouded by extinctions of endemic flora and fauna, growing populations of invasive species, and burgeoning resident and tourist populations. Examining the natural and human history of each island group from early settlement onwards, the book provides a critique of the concept of sustainable growth and offers realistic guidelines for future island management.

Author Biography

Lawrence R. Walker is a professor of plant ecology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research focuses on the mechanisms that drive plant succession after cyclones and on volcanoes, Landslides, glacial moraines, floodplains, dunes, minetailings, and abandoned roads. Much of his work has been conducted on islands. Peter Bellingham is a research scientist and plant ecologist at Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand. He has worked extensively in island ecosystems on the consequences of natural disturbances, such as cyclones, earthquakes, floods, and landslides, and on the interactions between these natural disturbances and invasions by non-native plants and animals.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Photo credits	p. xiv
Introduction to island environments and cultures	p. 1
Stereotypes and realities	p. 1
Special features of islands	p. 3
Isolation	p. 4
Finiteness	p. 4
Vulnerability	p. 6
Evolutionary experiments	p. 7
Human impacts	p. 8
Conservation	p. 10
Invasive species and their management	p. 11
Restoration	p. 13
Our island framework	p. 14
Scope	p. 17
The physical setting	p. 21
Isolation and finiteness	p. 21
Geology	p. 21
Oceanic islands	p. 22
Continental islands and land bridges	p. 28
Continental fragments	p. 29
Barrier islands	p. 33
Anthropogenic islands	p. 33
Geography	p. 35
British Isles	p. 39
Iceland	p. 40
Canary Islands	p. 41
Puerto Rico	p. 43
Jamaica	p. 43
Hawai'i	p. 45
Tonga	p. 46
New Zealand	p. 46
Japan	p. 48
Climate	p. 50
Topography	p. 51
Oceanicity	p. 54
Precipitation	p. 54
Temperature	p. 55
Climate measurement and integration	p. 56
Soils	p. 57
Geological substrate	p. 58
Topographical influences	p. 60
Climatic influences	p. 61
Biological influences	p. 61
Summary	p. 62
Natural disturbances on islands	p. 64
Disturbance characteristics	p. 64
Volcanoes	p. 67
Characteristics and examples	p. 67
Ecological effects and responses	p. 70
Earthquakes	p. 72
Characteristics and examples	p. 72
Ecological effects and responses	p. 78
Erosion	p. 79
Characteristics and examples	p. 79
Ecological effects and responses	p. 83
Land building	p. 83
Characteristics and examples	p. 83
Ecological effects and responses	p. 87
Tropical cyclones	p. 87
Characteristics and examples	p. 87
Ecological effects and responses	p. 94
Floods	p. 96
Characteristics and examples	p. 96
Ecological effects and responses	p. 101
Tsunamis	p. 102
Characteristics and examples	p. 102
Ecological effects and responses	p. 105
Droughts	p. 106
Characteristics and examples	p. 106
Ecological effects and responses	p. 107
Fires	p. 108
Characteristics and examples	p. 108
Ecological effects and responses	p. 109
Animal activities	p. 110
Summary	p. 111
The plants and animals of islands	p. 116
Introduction	p. 116
How islands gain their plants and animals	p. 117
Dispersal	p. 118
Past land connections	p. 125
Evolution of new species	p. 128
Time	p. 128
Isolation	p. 129
Size and topography	p. 129
Biological features	p. 132
Special features of plant and animal communities	p. 135
Species richness	p. 135
Diverse but related species	p. 136
Unusual life forms and behaviors	p. 140
Strong connections between land and sea	p. 143
Extinction on islands	p. 146
Extinction as an evolutionary process	p. 146
Modern extinctions	p. 147
Summary	p. 149
Human dispersal, colonization, and early environmental impacts	p. 152
Introduction	p. 152
Walking to Britain	p. 152
Japan's first settlers	p. 156
Settling Puerto Rico and Jamaica	p. 159
The first Canary Islanders	p. 162
Early Polynesia - the settlement of Tonga	p. 164
Reaching the edges of Polynesia - the discovery and settlement of Hawai'i	p. 168
Settling the largest islands of Polynesia - reaching Aotearoa (New Zealand)	p. 172
Colonizing Iceland - the Norse outpost	p. 175
Summary	p. 179
Intensifying human impacts on islands	p. 182
Introduction	p. 182
Deforestation of the British Isles and their conversion to agriculture	p. 183
Japan: a civilization founded on rice cultivation and forest management	p. 192
Canary Islands: from self-sufficiency to trading post and cash crops	p. 202
Puerto Rico and Jamaica: conquest, slavery, and crops for empires	p. 207
Polynesian islands, European agriculture, and ecological transformation	p. 213
The colonial transformation of New Zealand's environment	p. 215
Hawai'i joins the global markets	p. 221
Tonga retains local control of land	p. 228
Iceland finds a path forward after environmental degradation	p. 229
Common trends	p. 231
Islands in the modem world, 1950-2000	p. 235
Introduction	p. 235
State of the environment in 1950	p. 236
Technology	p. 240
Fishing	p. 240
Agriculture	p. 242
Extractive industries	p. 251
Military activities	p. 256
Population growth	p. 259
Urbanization	p. 259
Remittance cultures	p. 266
Wealth and leisure	p. 267
Tourism	p. 267
Sport hunting	p. 275
Invasive species	p. 277
Dispersal	p. 277
Novel biological communities	p. 278
Responses	p. 279
Conservation	p. 279
Restoration	p. 283
Environmental limits imposed on humans by island ecosystems	p. 289
State of the environment in 2000	p. 290
The future of island ecosystems: remoteness lost	p. 293
Introduction	p. 293
Population pressure	p. 293
Climate change	p. 296
Temperature	p. 297
Sea level and acidity	p. 298
Coral reefs	p. 299
Forests	p. 300
Tourism and the carbon cost of travel	p. 301
Responses	p. 301
Local production and consumption	p. 301
Restoration	p. 302
Living with invasive species	p. 302
Urban futures	p. 303
Broader implications for the island groups	p. 304
Application to other islands	p. 304
Practical lessons	p. 305
Summary	p. 305
Glossary	p. 307
Index	p. 312
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