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Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation » (2nd Edition)

Book cover image of Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation by Robert J. Whittaker

Authors: Robert J. Whittaker, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios
ISBN-13: 9780198566120, ISBN-10: 0198566123
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: February 2007
Edition: 2nd Edition

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Author Biography: Robert J. Whittaker

Robert J. Whittaker is Professor of Biogeography at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment

José María Fernández-Palacios is Professor of Ecology at the La Laguna University, Tenerife

Book Synopsis

Work on evolution on islands has a long-established biogeographical pedigree, stretching back to the work of Darwin and Wallace. Research generated ideas, theories, and models which have played a central role in the development of mainstream ecology, evolutionary biology, and biogeography.
Island Biogeography is a new textbook, aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students. This is the first comprehensive book to be written on the topic since 1981. It provides a much needed synthesis of recent development across the discipline, linking current theoretical debates with applied island ecology. Some themes that the book covers include: the nature and formation of island environments, island ecological theories concerning species numbers, species assembly, and composition, and an assessment of the human impact on island biodiversity.
Written by an author who has been researching and teaching biogeography for many years, Island Biogeography is wide-ranging, authoritative, and accessible to students from across geography and the life sciences. This is the first truly modern textbook on a fascinating and important subject in evolution and ecology.

Table of Contents

1The natural laboratory paradigm1
2Island environments7
3Biodiversity hot-spots33
4Speciation and the island condition53
5Arrival and change64
6Emergent models of island evolution83
7Species numbers games113
8Community assembly and dynamics144
9Island theory and conservation192
10The human impact on island ecosystems - the lighthouse-keeper's cat and other stories228
Further reading257
References259
Index279

Subjects