Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

The commonly observed high diversity of trees in tropical rain forests and corals on tropical reefs is a nonequilibrium state which, if not disturbed further, will progress toward a low-diversity equilibrium community. This may not happen if gradual changes in climate favor different species. If equilibrium is reached, a lesser degree of diversity may be sustained by niche diversification or by a compensatory mortality that favors inferior competitors. However, tropical forests and reefs are subject to severe disturbances often enough that equilibrium may never be attained.

https://www.colby.edu/biology/BI358j/Readings/Diversity%20in%20rainforests%20and%20coral%20reefs.pdf

Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs.

A high number of tree species, low density of adults of each species, and long distances between conspecific adults are characteristic of many low-land tropical forest habitats. I propose that these three traits, in large part, are the result of the action of predators on seeds and seedlings. A model is presented that allows detailed examination of the effect of different predators, dispersal agents, seed-crop sizes, etc. on these three traits. In short, any event that increases the efficiency of the predators at eating seeds and seedlings of a given tree species may lead to a reduction in population density of the adults of that species and/or to increased distance between new adults and their parents. Either event will lead to more space in the habitat for other species of trees, and therefore higher total number of tree species, provided seed sources are available over evolutionary time. As one moves from the wet lowland tropics to the dry tropics or temperate zones, the seed and seedling predators in ...

Herbivores and the Number of Tree Species in Tropical Forests

Hybrid zones are, roughly speaking, narrow regions in which genetically distinct populations meet, mate, and produce hybrids. They are often only a few hundred meters wide and yet may be several hundred kilometers long. They are found in a wide variety of organisms: Tables 1 and 2 list about 150 reasonably clear examples, in which there is a spatial transition between two hybridizing forms. Such a widespread and striking phenomenon requires explanation; more importantly, it offers us several ways of understanding the nature and origin of species. First, hybrid zones pose interesting questions for the taxonomist, for they contrast two views of the species: as a set of populations delimited by genetic barriers to gene exchange; and as a set of populations maintained in a particular stable equilibrium by selection. Second, the wide range of genotypes found in a hybrid zone can be used to analyze the genetic differences and selective forces that separate the taxa involved. This may allow some inferences about the way these differences evolved and, by extrapolation, about the way fully isolated species diverge from each other. Finally, models of parapatric speciation, and of Wright's "shifting balance," involve the formation, move­ ment, and modification of hybrid zones. Hybrid zones must be understood before the plausibility of these models can be judged. After clarifying our terminology, we will summarize the relevant theory and then see how this can be used to make inferences from field data. A notable increase in the number of detailed genetic studies of hybrid zones occurred over

Analysis of Hybrid Zones

The Amazonian rainforest is arguably the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystem in the world, yet the timing of the origin and evolutionary causes of this diversity are a matter of debate. We review the geologic and phylogenetic evidence from Amazonia and compare it with uplift records from the Andes. This uplift and its effect on regional climate fundamentally changed the Amazonian landscape by reconfiguring drainage patterns and creating a vast influx of sediments into the basin. On this “Andean” substrate, a region-wide edaphic mosaic developed that became extremely rich in species, particularly in Western Amazonia. We show that Andean uplift was crucial for the evolution of Amazonian landscapes and ecosystems, and that current biodiversity patterns are rooted deep in the pre-Quaternary.

/pdf/amazonia-through-time-andean-uplift-climate-change-landscape-438st0vlfu.pdf

Amazonia Through Time: Andean Uplift, Climate Change, Landscape Evolution, and Biodiversity

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/165/3889/131.full.pdf

Speciation in amazonian forest birds.

Speciation Patterns in the Amazonian Forest Biota

Populations of ten Amazonian bird species were sampled on opposite banks of the Rio Teles Pires, a headwater stream of the Rio Tapajos, in the Alta Floresta region, northern Mato Grosso, Brazil. The river is 100–300 m wide in this region. We found a range of genetic differentiation from none to relatively high levels; six of the ten species studied exhibit what appear to be genetic breaks at the river. With one exception, the antbird Hylophylax poecilinota, there is no morphologically recognized differentiation correlating with genetic differentiation. From the perspective of traditional morphology-based taxonomy, the Rio Teles Pires is not a faunal barrier. Rather, contact zones between members of species and subspecies pairs appear more or less randomly distributed in this region, some being located at varying distances to the east, others at varying distances to the west of the Rio Teles Pires, with few following the course of this river itself.

Avian mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence across a headwater stream of the Rio Tapajós, a major Amazonian river

Distribution of Amazon Forest Birds

Time's cycle and time's arrow in the history of Amazonia

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