Plants on Islands: Diversity and Dynamics on a Continental Archipelago
Martin Cody
Abstract
This study, the result of nearly a quarter-century of research, examines the island biogeography of plants on continental islands in Barkley Sound, British Columbia. The book summarizes the diversity, dynamics, and distribution of the approximately three hundred species of plants on more than two hundred islands. The author uses his extensive data set to test various aspects of island biogeographic theory. His analysis, constrained by taxon and region, elucidates and enhances the understanding of the biogeographic patterns and dynamics. The author provides an overview of the basic theory, conc ... More
This study, the result of nearly a quarter-century of research, examines the island biogeography of plants on continental islands in Barkley Sound, British Columbia. The book summarizes the diversity, dynamics, and distribution of the approximately three hundred species of plants on more than two hundred islands. The author uses his extensive data set to test various aspects of island biogeographic theory. His analysis, constrained by taxon and region, elucidates and enhances the understanding of the biogeographic patterns and dynamics. The author provides an overview of the basic theory, concepts, and analytical tools of island biogeography. Also discussed are island relaxation to lower equilibrium species numbers post-isolation, plant distributions variously limited by island area, isolation and climatic differences, adaptation to local abiotic and biotic environments within islands, and the evolution of different island phenotypes. The book concludes with a valuable consideration of equilibrium concepts and of the interplay of coexistence and competition.
Keywords:
Barkley Sound,
British Columbia,
biogeography,
plant species,
taxonomy,
lower equilibrium species,
isolation,
climate
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520247291 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520247291.001.0001 |
