Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:53:08.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Evolution on Islands

Peculiarities and Implications for Species Conservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2018

By
Jim J. Groombridge ,
Stephen E. W. Green  and
Samuel T. Turvey
Edited by
Jamieson A. Copsey ,
Simon A. Black ,
Jim J. Groombridge  and
Carl G. Jones
Jamieson A. Copsey
Affiliation:
IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG)
Simon A. Black
Affiliation:
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent
Jim J. Groombridge
Affiliation:
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent
Carl G. Jones
Affiliation:
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Get access
Type
Chapter
Information
Species Conservation
Lessons from Islands
 , pp. 17 - 50
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, G. H. and Levins, R. (1994). The island syndrome in rodent populations. Quarterly Review of Biology 69: 473–90.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. P. and Jr.Handley, C. O. (2002). Dwarfism in insular sloths: biogeography, selection, and evolutionary rate. Evolution 56: 1045–58.Google ScholarPubMed
Avise, J. C. and Nelson, W. S. (1989). Molecular genetic relationships of the extinct dusky seaside sparrow. Science 243: 646–48.Google Scholar
Balmer, O., Ciofi, C., Galbraith, D. A. et al. (2010). Population genetic structure of Aldabra giant tortoises. Journal of Heredity 102(1): 29–37.Google Scholar
Beheregaray, L. B., Gibbs, J. P., Havill, N. et al. (2004). Giant tortoises are not slow: rapid diversification and biogeographic consensus in the Galapagos. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101: 6514–19.Google Scholar
Beheregaray, L. B., Ciofi, C., Caccone, A., Gibbs, J. P. and Powell, J. R. (2003). Genetic divergence, phylogeography and conservation units of giant tortoises from Santa Cruz and Pinzon, Galapagos Islands. Conservation Genetics 4: 31–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergman, J. (2005). The history of the dodo bird and the cause of its extinction. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 57: 221–29.Google Scholar
Berger, A. J. (1981). Hawaiian Birdlife. 2nd edn. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, HI.Google Scholar
Biju, S. D. and Bossuyt, F. (2003). New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles. Nature 425: 711–14.Google Scholar
Blackburn, T. M., Cassey, P., Duncan, R. P., Evans, K. L. and Gaston, K. J. (2004). Avian extinction and mammalian introductions on oceanic islands. Science 305: 1955–58.Google Scholar
Blackburn, T. M., Cassey, P., Duncan, R. P., Evans, K. L. and Gaston, K. J. (2005). Response to comment on ‘Avian extinction and mammalian introductions on oceanic islands’. Science 307: 1412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jr.Brown, W. L. and Wilson, E. O. (1956). Character displacement. Systematic Zoology 7: 49–64.Google Scholar
Caccone, A., Gibbs, J. P., Ketmaier, V., Suatoni, E. and Powell, J. R. (1999). Origin and evolutionary relationships of giant Galapagos tortoises. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 96: 13223–28.Google Scholar
Caccone, A., Gentile, G., Gibbs, J. P. et al. (2002). Phylogeography and history of giant Galapagos tortoises. Evolution 56: 2052–66.Google Scholar
Carlquist, S. 1974. Island Biology. Columbia University Press, New York, NY.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, T. L. C. and Jacobi, J. D. (1974). A new genus and species of bird from the island of Maui, Hawaii (Passeriformes: Drepanididae). Occasional Papers of the B.P. Bishop Museum 24: 215–26.Google Scholar
Ciofi, C., Wilson, G. A., Berherebaray, L. B. et al. (2006). Phylogeographic history and gene flow among giant Galapagos tortoises on Southern Isabel Island. Genetics 172: 1727–44.Google Scholar
Cheke, A. S. (1987). An ecological history of the Mascarene Islands, with particular reference to extinctions and introductions of land vertebrates, pp. 5–89 in Diamond, A. W. (ed.), Studies of Mascarene Island Birds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheke, A. S. and Hume, J. (2008). Lost land of the dodo, in Cheke, A. S. and Hume, J. (eds.), An Ecological History of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues. T & AD Poyser, London.Google Scholar
Collen, B., Turvey, S. T., Waterman, C. et al. (2011). Investing in evolutionary history: implementing a phylogenetic approach for mammal conservation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366: 2611–22.Google Scholar
Cody, M. L. and Overton, J. M. (1996) Short-term evolution of reduced dispersal in plant populations. Journal of Ecology 84: 53–61.Google Scholar
Cowie, R. H. and Holland, B. S.. (2006). Dispersal is fundamental to biogeography and the evolution of biodiversity on oceanic islands. Journal of Biogeography 33: 193–98.Google Scholar
Cree, A. and Butler, D. (1993). Tuatara recovery plan (Sphenodon spp.). Threatened Species Recovery Plan No. 9. Threatened Species Unit, New Zealand Department of Conservation, Wellington.Google Scholar
Crozier, R. H. (1992). Genetic diversity and the agony of choice. Biological Conservation 61: 11–15.Google Scholar
Crozier, R. H. (1997). Preserving the information content of species: genetic diversity, phylogeny and conservation worth. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 28: 243–68.Google Scholar
Damuth, J. (1993). Cope’s rule, the island rule and the scaling of mammalian population density. Nature 365: 748–50.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. J. Murray, London.Google Scholar
Daugherty, C. H., Cree, A., Hay, J. M. and Thompson, M. B. (1990). Neglected taxonomy and continued extinctions of tuatara (Sphenodon). Nature 347: 177–79.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. M. (1980). Species turnover in island bird communities. Proceedings of the 17th International Ornithological Congress 2: 777–82.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. M. (1991). A new species of rail from the Solomon Islands and convergent evolution of insular flightlessness. The Auk 108: 461–70.Google Scholar
Didham, R. K, Ewers, R. M. & Gemmell, N. J. (2005). Comment on ‘Avian extinction and mammalian introductions on oceanic islands’. Science 307: 1412.Google Scholar
Duncan, R. P. & Blackburn, T. M. (2004). Extinction and endemism in the New Zealand avifauna. Global Ecology and Biogeography 13: 509–17.Google Scholar
Ehrendorfer, E. (1979). Reproductive biology in island plants, pp. 293–306 in Bramwell, D. (ed.), Plants and Islands. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Fleischer, R. C., Tarr, C. L., James, H. F., Slikas, B. and McIntosh, C. E. (2001). Phylogenetic placement of the po’ouli, Melamprosops phaeosoma, based on mitochondrial DNA sequence and osteological characters. Studies in Avian Biology 22: 98–103.Google Scholar
Foster, J. B. (1964). Evolution of mammals on islands. Nature 202: 234–35.Google Scholar
Frankham, R., (2005). Genetics and extinction. Biological Conservation 12: 131–40.Google Scholar
Frankham, R., (1997). Do island populations have less genetic variation than mainland populations? Heredity 78: 311–27.Google Scholar
Frankham, R., (1998). Inbreeding and extinction: island populations. Conservation Biology 12: 665–75.Google Scholar
Frankham, R., Ballou, J. D. and Briscoe, D. D. (eds.). (2002). Introduction, in Introduction to Conservation Genetics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Fritts, T. H. (1984). Evolutionary Divergence of Giant Tortoises in Galapagos. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 21: 165–76.Google Scholar
Fuller, E. (2003). Dodo: From Extinction to Icon. Universe Publishers, New York.Google Scholar
Gerlach, J. (2010). Status of the Sooglossidae and an action plan for their conservation. Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, London, pp. 4–7.Google Scholar
Givnish, T. J., Sytsma, K. J., Smith, J. F., and Hahn, W. J. (1994). Thorn-like prickles and heterophylly in Cyanea: adaptations to extinct avian browsers on Hawaii? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 91: 2810–14.Google Scholar
Green, S. (2011). Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of the Hog Island Boa Constrictor. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Kent, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Groombridge, J. J. (2009). Po’o-uli, pp. 487–98 in Pratt, T. K., Woodworth, B. L., Atkinson, C. T., Jacobi, J. and Banko, P. (eds.), Conservation Biology of Hawaiian Forest Birds: Implications for Insular Avifauna. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Groombridge, J. J. (2007). Genetics and extinction of island endemics: the importance of historical perspectives. Animal Conservation 10: 147–48.Google Scholar
Groombridge, J. J., Massey, J. G., Bruch, J. C. et al. (2004). An attempt to recover the po’ouli by translocation and an appraisal of recovery strategy for bird species of extreme rarity. Biological Conservation 118: 365–75.Google Scholar
Hansen, D. M. and Galetti, M. (2009). The forgotten megafauna. Science 324: 42–43.Google Scholar
Hay, J. M., Daugherty, C. H., Cree, A. and Mason, L. R. (2003). Low genetic divergence obscures phylogeny among populations of Sphenodon, remnant of an ancient reptilian lineage. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 1–19.Google Scholar
Hay, J. M., Subramanian, S., Miller, C. D., Mohandesan, E. and Lambert, D. M. (2008). Rapid molecular evolution in a living fossil. Trends in Genetics 24: 106–9.Google Scholar
Hay, J. M., Sarre, S. D., Lambert, D. M., Allendorf, F. W. and Daiugherty, C. H. (2010). Genetic diversity and taxonomy: a reassessment of species designation in tuatara (Sphenodon: Reptilia). Conservation Genetics 11: 1063–81.Google Scholar
Hume, J. P. (2006). The history of the dodo Raphus cucullatus and the penguin of Mauritius. Historical Biology 18: 65–89.Google Scholar
Hume, J. P. and Prys-Jones, R. P. (2005). New discoveries from old sources, with reference to the original bird and mammal fauna of the Mascarene Islands, Indian Ocean. Zoologische Mededelingen 79(8): 85–95.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G. E. (1957). Concluding remarks. Cold Spring Harbour Symposia on Quantitative Biology 22: 415–27.Google Scholar
Isaac, N. J. B., Turvey, S. T., Collen, B., Waterman, C. and Baillie, J. E. M. (2007). Mammals on the EDGE: conservation priorities based on threat and phylogeny. PLoS ONE 2(3): e296.Google Scholar
Jamieson, I. G. (2007). Has the debate over genetics and extinction of island endemics truly been resolved? Animal Conservation 10: 139–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jamieson, I. G., Wallis, G. P. and Briskie, J. V. (2006). Inbreeding and endangered species management: is New Zealand out of step with the rest of the world? Conservation Biology 20: 38–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, H. F. and Olson, S. L. (1991). Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: II. Passeriformes. Ornithological Monographs 46: 1–88.Google Scholar
Janoo, A. (2005). Discovery of isolated dodo bones [Raphus cucullatus (L.), Aves, Columbiformes] from Mauritius cave shelters highlights human predation, with a comment on the status of the family Raphidae Wetmore, 1930. Annales de Paléontologie 91: 167–80.Google Scholar
Kitchener, A. (1993). On the external appearance of the dodo, Raphus cucullatus (L., 1758). Archives of Natural History 20: 279–301.Google Scholar
Lack, D. (1947). Darwin’s Finches: An Essay on the General Biological Theory of Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Lerner, H. R., Meyer, M., James, H. F., Hofreiter, M. and Fleischer, R. C. (2011) Multilocus resolution of phylogeny and timescale in the extant adaptive radiation of Hawaiian honeycreepers. Current Biology 21: 1838–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lister, A. M. (1993). Mammals in miniature. Nature 362: 288–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lomolino, M. V. (1985). Body size of mammals on islands: the island rule re-examined. American Naturalist 125: 310–16.Google Scholar
MacArthur, R. H. and Wilson, E. O. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
MacAvoy, E. S., McGibbon, L. M., Sainsbury, J. P. et al. (2007). Genetic variation in island populations of tuatara (Sphenodon spp.) inferred from microsatellite markers. Conservation Genetics 8: 305–18.Google Scholar
MacPhee, R. D. E., White, J. L. and Woods, C. A. (2000). New megalonychid sloths (Phyllophaga, Xenarthra) from the Quaternary of Hispaniola. American Museum Novitates 3303: 1–32.Google Scholar
Matson, K. D. (2006). Are there differences in immune function between continental and insular birds? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273: 2267–74.Google Scholar
May, R. M. (1990) Taxonomy is destiny. Nature 347: 129–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, E. (1965). Avifauna: turnover on islands. Science 150: 1587–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meiri, S., Raia, P. and Phillimore, A. B. (2011).Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands. Journal of Biogeography 38: 89–100.Google Scholar
McCranie, J. R., Wilson, L. D. and Köhler, G. (2005). Amphibians and Reptiles of the Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos, Honduras. Bibliomania, Salt Lake City, UT.Google Scholar
McFarlane, D. A., MacPhee, R. D. E. and Ford, D. C. (1998). Body size variability and a Sangamonian extinction model for Amblyrhiza, a West Indian megafaunal rodent. Quaternary Research 50: 80–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moritz, C. (2002). Strategies to protect biological diversity and the evolutionary processes that sustain it. Systematic Biology 51: 238–54.Google Scholar
Nelson, N. J., Keall, S. N., Brown, D. and Daugherty, C. H. (2002). Establishing a new wild population of tuatara (Spenodon guntheri). Conservation Biology 16: 887–94.Google Scholar
O’Brien, S. J. and Mayr, E. (1991). Bureacratic mischief: recognizing endangered species and subspecies. Science 251: 1187–88.Google Scholar
Pratt, H. D. (2001). Why the Hawaii creeper is an Oreomystis: what phenotypic characters reveal about the phylogeny of Hawaiian honeycreepers. Studies in Avian Biology 22: 81–97.Google Scholar
Pratt, H. D. (1992). Is the po’ouli a Hawaiian honeycreeper? (Drepanidinae). Condor 94: 172–80.Google Scholar
Pratt, H. D. (1979). A Systematic Analysis of the Endemic Avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands. PhD thesis, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.Google Scholar
Purvis, A. P., Gittleman, J. L. and Brooks, T. (eds.). (2005). Phylogeny and Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Raia, P. and Meiri, S. (2011). The tempo and mode of evolution: body sizes of island mammals. Evolution 65: 1927–34.Google Scholar
Rest, J. S., Ast, J. C., Austin, C. C. et al. (2003). Molecular systematics of primary reptilian lineages and the tuatara mitochondrial genome. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 289–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reyment, R. A. (1983). Palaeontological aspects of island biogeography: colonisation and evolution of mammals on Mediterranean islands. Oikos 41: 299–306.Google Scholar
Rick, C. M. and Bowman, R. L. (1961). Galapagos tomatoes and tortoises. Evolution 15: 407–17.Google Scholar
Rijsdijk, K. F., Hume, J. P., Bunnik, F. et al. (2009). Mid-Holocene vertebrate bone concentration-Lagerstätte on oceanic island Mauritius provide a window into the ecosystem of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus). Quaternary Science Reviews 28: 14–24.Google Scholar
Roff, D. A. (1991). The evolution of flightlessness in insects. Ecological Monographs 60: 389–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roff, D. A. (1994). The evolution of flightlessness: is history important? Evolutionary Ecology 8: 639–57.Google Scholar
Schluter, D. (1988). Character displacement and the adaptive divergence of finches on islands and continents. American Naturalist 131: 799–824.Google Scholar
Schüle, W. (1993). Mammals, vegetation and the initial human settlement of the Mediterranean islands: a palaeoecological approach. Journal of Biogeography 20: 399–411.Google Scholar
Shapiro, B., Sibthorpe, D., Rambaut, A., Austin, J., Wragg, G., Bininda-Emonds, O., Lee, P. Cooper, A. (2002). Flight of the Dodo. Science 295: 1683.Google Scholar
Simard, M. A., Côté, S. D., Weladji, R. B. and Huot, L. J. (2008) Feedback effects of chronic browsing on life-history traits of a large herbivore. Journal of Animal Ecology 77: 678–86.Google Scholar
Sinclair, A. R. E. and Parkes, J. P. (2008). On being the right size: food-limited feedback on optimal body size. Journal of Animal Ecology 77: 635–37.Google Scholar
Spielman, D., Brook, B. W., Briscoe, D. A. and Frankham, R. (2004). Does inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity decrease disease resistance? Conservation Genetics 5: 439–48.Google Scholar
Steadman, D. W. (2006). An extinct species of tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus) from the Kingdom of Tonga, and the concept of endemism in insular landbirds. Journal of Zoology 268: 233–41.Google Scholar
Strickland, H. E. and Melville, A. G. (1848). The Dodo and Its Kindred. Reeve, Benham and Reeve, London.Google Scholar
Stuessy, T. F., Jakubowsky, G., Gómez, R. A. et al. (2006). Anagenetic evolution in island plants. Journal of Biogeography 33: 1259–65.Google Scholar
Swinnerton, K. J., Groombridge, J. J., Jones, C. G., Burn, R. W. and Mungroo, Y. (2004). Inbreeding depression and founder diversity among captive and free-living populations of the endangered pink pigeon Columba mayeri. Animal Conservation 7: 1–12.Google Scholar
Swinnerton, K. J., Greenwood, A. G., Chapman, R. E. and Jones, C. G. (2005). The incidence of the parasitic disease trichonomiasis and its treatment in reintroduced and wild pink pigeons Columba meyeri. Ibis 147: 772–82.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. L., Bunbury, N., Chong-Seng, L. et al. (2012). Evidence for evolutionary distinctiveness of a newly discovered population of sooglossid frogs on Praslin Island, Seychelles. Conservation Genetics 13: 557–66.Google Scholar
Tikhonov, A., Agenbroad, L. and Vartanyan, S. (2003). Comparative analysis of the mammoth populations on Wrangel Island and the Channel Islands. Deinsea 9: 415–20.Google Scholar
Towns, D. R., Daugherty, C. H. and Cree, A. (2001). Raising the prospects for a forgotten fauna: a review of 10 years of conservation effort for New Zealand reptiles. Biological Conservation 99: 3–16.Google Scholar
Turvey, S. T. (2009). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Turvey, S. T. and Cheke, A. S. (2008). Dead as a dodo: the fortuitous rise to fame of an extinction icon. Historical Biology 20: 149–63.Google Scholar
Turvey, S. T., Green, O. R. and Holdaway, R. N. (2005). Cortical growth marks reveal extended juvenile development in New Zealand moa. Nature 435: 940–43.Google Scholar
Van der Meijden, A., Boistel, R., Gerlach, J. et al. (2007). Molecular phylogenetic evidence for paraphyly of the genus Sooglossus, with the description of a new genus of Seychellean frogs. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 91: 347–59.Google Scholar
VanderWerf, E. A., Groombridge, J. J., Fretz, J. S. and Swinnerton, K. J. (2006). Decision-analysis to guide recovery of the po’ouli, a critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper. Biological Conservation 129: 383–92.Google Scholar
Vartanyan, S. L., Garutt, V. E. and Sher, A. V. (1993). Holocene dwarf mammouths from Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic. Nature 362: 337–40.Google Scholar
Wallace, A. R. (1878). Tropical Nature and Other Essays. Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Walters, M. J. (1992). A Shadow and a Song: The Struggle to Save an Endangered Species. Chelsea Green, White River Junction, VT.Google Scholar
Warner, R. E. (1968). The role of introduced diseases in the extinction of the endemic Hawaiian avifauna. Condor 70: 101–20.Google Scholar
Werner, T. K. and Sherry, T. W. (1987). Beahvioural feeding specialisation in Pinaroloxias inornata, the ‘Darwin’s finch’ of Cocos Island, Coasta Rica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 84: 5506–10.Google Scholar
Whittaker, R. J., Triantis, K. A., and Ladle, R. J. (2008). A general dynamic theory of oceanic island biogeography. Journal of Biogeography 35: 977–94.Google Scholar
Wikelski, M., Foufopoulos, J., Vargas, H. and Snell, H. (2004). Galápagos birds and diseases: invasive pathogens as threats for island species. Ecology and Society 9(1): 5.Google Scholar
Williamson, M. H. (1981). Island Populations. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Wilson, L. D. and Hahn, D. E. (1973). The herpetofauna of the Islas de la Bahìa, Honduras. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 17: 93–150.Google Scholar
Zink, R. M. and Kale, H. W. (1995). Conservation genetics of the extinct dusky seaside sparrow Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens. Biological Conservation 74: 69–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×