Selected Papers from The ISLAND BIOLOGY–2016 - An International Conference on Island Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation (18-22 July 2016)

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2016) | Viewed by 19983

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CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Azorean Biodiversity Group, CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and the Environment, University of the Azores, PT-9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal
Interests: macroecology; community ecology (SADs, SARs); island biogeography; conservation; beetle taxonomy; bioespeleology; termite control; insect pollination
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Azorean Biodiversity Group, CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and the Environment, University of the Azores, PT-9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal
Interests: plant ecology; bryophyte studies; conservation; environmental education and sustainable development; scientific outreach
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores - Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e do Ambiente, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Azores, Portugal
Interests: climate change; forest ecology; invasive species; island biodiversity and conversation; plant community ecology; vegetation dynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores - Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Azores, Portugal
Interests: island biodiversity; biogeography and conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The ISLAND BIOLOGY 2016 international conference will bring together the expertise of a wide spectrum of research fields, in order to achieve a unified view of island biology. The conference will include poster presentations, plenary and regular sessions, and will host a high number of symposia, aimed to accommodate specialized discussions in topical areas in Island Biology.

Biodiversity, Global Changes, Conservation, Invasive Species, Evolutionary Biology, Species Interactions and Networks, Paleobiology and Biogeography are the key conference themes. The expectation is that the pioneering ideas, leading theories, novel methodological approaches and recent ground-breaking results presented at this conference will provide advances in island biology research and guidelines for the future development of this field.

In addition, the interdisciplinary expertise of participants is expected to contribute to decision-making concerning effective conservation planning strategies in Island Ecosystems, following the inspiration provided by the Declaration of the Guadeloupe 2014 International Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change.

Speakers in the conference are cordially invited to contribute original research papers or reviews to this Special Issue of Diversity.

Paulo A. V. Borges
Rosalina Gabriel
Rui B. Elias
Isabel R. Amorim
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Article
Turnover Dynamics of Breeding Land Birds on Islands: is Island Biogeographic Theory ‘True but Trivial’ over Decadal Time-Scales?
by Duncan McCollin
Diversity 2017, 9(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/d9010003 - 11 Jan 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5138
Abstract
The theory of island biogeography has revolutionised the study of island biology stimulating considerable debate and leading to the development of new advances in related areas. One criticism of the theory is that it is ‘true but trivial’, i.e., on the basis of [...] Read more.
The theory of island biogeography has revolutionised the study of island biology stimulating considerable debate and leading to the development of new advances in related areas. One criticism of the theory is that it is ‘true but trivial’, i.e., on the basis of analyses of annual turnovers of organisms on islands, it has been posited that stochastic turnover mainly comprises rare species, or repeated immigrations and extinctions thereof, and thereby contribute little to the overall ecological dynamics. Here, both the absolute and relative turnover of breeding land birds are analysed for populations on Skokholm, Wales, over census intervals of 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 years. As expected, over short census intervals (≤6 years), much of the turnover comprised repeated colonisations and extinctions of rare species. However, at longer intervals (12 and 24 years), a sizeable minority of species (11% of the total recorded) showed evidence of colonisation and/or extinction events despite sizeable populations (some upwards of 50 pairs). These results suggest that a longer-term view is required to take into account turnover involving more common species. Full article
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Article
Phylogeography of Rattus norvegicus in the South Atlantic Ocean
by Melanie Hingston, Sally Poncet, Ken Passfield, Michael A. Tabak, Sofia I. Gabriel, Stuart B. Piertney and James C. Russell
Diversity 2016, 8(4), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/d8040032 - 20 Dec 2016
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 6448
Abstract
Norway rats are a globally distributed invasive species, which have colonized many islands around the world, including in the South Atlantic Ocean. We investigated the phylogeography of Norway rats across the South Atlantic Ocean and bordering continental countries. We identified haplotypes from 517 [...] Read more.
Norway rats are a globally distributed invasive species, which have colonized many islands around the world, including in the South Atlantic Ocean. We investigated the phylogeography of Norway rats across the South Atlantic Ocean and bordering continental countries. We identified haplotypes from 517 bp of the hypervariable region I of the mitochondrial D-loop and constructed a Bayesian consensus tree and median-joining network incorporating all other publicly available haplotypes via an alignment of 364 bp. Three Norway rat haplotypes are present across the islands of the South Atlantic Ocean, including multiple haplotypes separated by geographic barriers within island groups. All three haplotypes have been previously recorded from European countries. Our results support the hypothesis of rapid Norway rat colonization of South Atlantic Ocean islands by sea-faring European nations from multiple European ports of origin. This seems to have been the predominant pathway for repeated Norway rat invasions of islands, even within the same archipelago, rather than within-island dispersal across geographic barriers. Full article
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Review

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Review
Biodiversity Dynamics on Islands: Explicitly Accounting for Causality in Mechanistic Models
by Ludwig Leidinger and Juliano Sarmento Cabral
Diversity 2017, 9(3), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/d9030030 - 7 Aug 2017
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 7427
Abstract
Island biogeography remains a popular topic in ecology and has gained renewed interest due to recent theoretical development. As experimental investigation of the theory is difficult to carry out, mechanistic simulation models provide useful alternatives. Several eco-evolutionary mechanisms have been identified to affect [...] Read more.
Island biogeography remains a popular topic in ecology and has gained renewed interest due to recent theoretical development. As experimental investigation of the theory is difficult to carry out, mechanistic simulation models provide useful alternatives. Several eco-evolutionary mechanisms have been identified to affect island biodiversity, but integrating more than a few of these processes into models remains a challenge. To get an overview of what processes mechanistic island models have integrated so far and what conclusions they came to, we conducted an exhaustive literature review of studies featuring island-specific mechanistic models. This was done using an extensive systematic literature search with subsequent manual filtering. We obtained a list of 28 studies containing mechanistic island models, out of 647 total hits. Mechanistic island models differ greatly in their integrated processes and computational structure. Their individual findings range from theoretical (such as humped-shaped extinction rates for oceanic islands) to system-specific dynamics (e.g., equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics for Galápagos’ birds). However, most models so far only integrate theories and processes pair-wise, while focusing on hypothetical systems. Trophic interactions and explicit micro-evolution are largely underrepresented in models. We expect future models to continue integrating processes, thus promoting the full appraisal of biodiversity dynamics. Full article
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