BACKGROUND Ever since Darwin, natural scientists have turned to islands for inspiration
and for model systems. For the past half century, they have done so largely within the …

Biodiversity on marine islands is characterized by unique biogeographic, phylogenetic and
functional characteristics. Islands hold a disproportionate amount of the world's biodiversity …

Aims The 50th anniversary of the publication of the seminal book, The Theory of Island
Biogeography, by Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson, is a timely moment to review …

Island biogeographical models consider islands either as geologically static with biodiversity
resulting from ecologically neutral immigration–extinction dynamics, or as geologically …

Studies on the distribution and evolution of organisms on oceanic islands have advanced
towards a dynamic perspective, where terrestrial endemicity results from island …

ABSTRACT Quaternary (last 2.6 million years) botany involves studying plant megafossils
(eg tree stumps), macrofossils (eg seeds, leaves), and microfossils (eg pollen, spores) …

Bryophytes include about 20,000 species characterized by their poikilohydric condition, high
long-distance dispersal capacities, and cold tolerance. Despite these specific life-history …

One of the best-known general patterns in island biogeography is the species–isolation
relationship (SIR), a decrease in the number of native species with increasing island …

Island biogeography is the study of the spatio‐temporal distribution of species, communities,
assemblages or ecosystems on islands and other isolated habitats. Island diversity is …

Research in Macaronesia has led to substantial advances in ecology, evolution and
conservation biology. We review the scientific developments achieved in this region, and …