Island Biogeography and Conservation Biology

Islands as Natural Ecological Experiments

Krakatau, Indonesia

Picture-winged Drosophila

Male picture-winged flies fighting at a “lek”

Species Area CurvesS = C A z log S = log C + z log A

Estimated z Values for Various Terrestrial Plants and Animals on Different Island Groups

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Fauna or flora Island Group z __________________________________________________________________ Carabid beetles West Indies 0.34Ponerine ants Melanesia 0.30Amphibians and reptiles West Indies 0.301Breeding land and freshwater birds West Indies 0.237Breeding land and freshwater birds East Indies 0.280Breeding land and freshwater birds East-Central Pacific 0.303Breeding land and freshwater birds Islands of Gulf of Guinea 0.489Land vertebrates Islands of Lake Michigan 0.239Land plants Galápagos Islands 0.325__________________________________________________________________

Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography

E. O. WilsonR. H. MacArthur

Freeport-McMoran Mine, Irian Jaya, New Guinea

Conservation BiologyValue of BiodiversityHot spots of diversitySLOSS debate, Design of Nature ReservesMinimum viable population sizeGenetic bottleneckPopulation viability analysisSensitivity analyses of Leslie matrices“Extinction vortex”

Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, small population size, genetic and demographic stochasticityToxic pollution and climatic changes

Different types of metapopulations

“A land ethic changesthe role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land community to plainmember and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members and also respect for the community as such.”

Aldo Leopold: