The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited

by Losos, Jonathan B.

• ISBN13: 9780691136523
• ISBN10: 0691136521
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-10-19
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson'sThe Theory of Island Biogeography, first published by Princeton in 1967, is one of the most influential books on ecology and evolution to appear in the past half century. By developing a general mathematical theory to explain a crucial ecological problem--the regulation of species diversity in island populations--the book transformed the science of biogeography and ecology as a whole. InThe Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited, some of today's most prominent biologists assess the continuing impact of MacArthur and Wilson's book four decades after its publication. Following an opening chapter in which Wilson reflects on island biogeography in the 1960s, fifteen chapters evaluate and demonstrate how the field has extended and confirmed--as well as challenged and modified--MacArthur and Wilson's original ideas. Providing a broad picture of the fundamental ways in which the science of island biogeography has been shaped by MacArthur and Wilson's landmark work,The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisitedalso points the way toward exciting future research.

Author Biography

Jonathan B. Losos is professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the curator of herpetology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Robert E. Ricklefs is the Curators' Professor of Biology at University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
List of Contributors	p. xv
Island Biogeography in the 1960s: Theory and Experiment	p. 1
Island Biogeography Theory: Reticulations and Reintegration of ôa Biogeography of the Speciesö	p. 13
The MacArthur-Wilson Equilibrium Model: A Chronicle of What It Said and How It Was Tested	p. 52
A General Dynamic Theory of Oceanic Island Biogeography: Extending the MacArthur-Wilson Theory to Accommodate the Rise and Fall of Volcanic Islands	p. 88
The Trophic Cascade on Islands	p. 116
Toward a Trophic Island Biogeography: Reflections on the Interface of Island Biogeography and Food Web Ecology	p. 143
The Theories of Island Biogeography and Metapopulation Dynamics: Science Marches Forward, but the Legacy of Good Ideas Lasts for a Long Time	p. 186
Beyond Island Biogeography Theory: Understanding Habitat Fragmentation in the Real World	p. 214
Birds of the Solomon Islands: The Domain of the Dynamic Equilibrium Theory and Assembly Rules, with Comments on the Taxon Cycle	p. 237
Neutral Theory and the Theory of Island Biogeography	p. 264
Evolutionary Changes Following Island Colonization in Birds: Empirical Insights into the Roles of Microevolutionary Processes	p. 293
Sympatric Speciation, Immigration, and Hybridization in Island Birds	p. 326
Island Biogeography of Remote Archipelagoes: Interplay between Ecological and Evolutionary Processes	p. 358
Dynamics of Colonization and Extinction on Islands: Insights from Lesser Antillean Birds	p. 388
The Speciation-Area Relationship	p. 415
Ecological and Genetic Models of Diversity: Lessons across Disciplines	p. 439
Index	p. 463
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