1967 - McArthur & Wilson - Island Biogeography

"This book had its origin when, about five years ago, an ecologist (MacArthur) and a taxonomist and zoogeographer (Wilson) began a dialogue about common interests in biogeography. The ideas and the language of the two specialties seemed initially so different as to cast doubt on the usefulness of the endeavor. But we had faith in the ultimate unity of population biology, and this book is the result. Now we both call ourselves biogeographers and are unable to see any real distinction between biogeography and ecology. 

A great deal of faith in the feasibility of a general theory is still required. We do not seriously believe that the particular formulations advanced in the chapters to follow will fit for very long the exacting results of future empirical investigation. We hope instead that they will contribute to the stimulation of new forms of theoretical and empirical studies, which will lead in turn to a stronger general theory and, as R. A. Fisher once put it, “a tradition of mathematical work devoted to biological problems, comparable to the researches upon which a mathematical physicist can draw in the resolution of special difficulties.” Already some strains have appeared in the structure. These have been discussed frankly, if not always satisfactorily, in the text.

We owe the strains, as well as many improvements, to colleagues who read the entire first draft. We are very grateful to John T. Bonner, William L. Brown, Jr., Walter Elsasser, Carl Gans, Henry Horn, Robert F. Inger, E. G. Leigh, Richard Levins, Daniel A. Livingstone, Monte Lloyd, Thomas Schoener, and Daniel Simberloff for this favor. We are also indebted to William H. Bossert, Philip J. Darlington, Bassett Maguire, Ernst Mayr, and Lawrence B. Slobodkin for critically reading selected portions of the manuscript; and to J. Bruce Falls, Kenneth Crowell, Bassett Maguire, Ruth Patrick, and Bernice G. Schubert for adding new materials. A preliminary draft of the book was used as a text in graduate seminars at Harvard University and Princeton University in the fall of 1966 and has thus benefited from a testing in the classroom.

The illustrations were prepared by John Kyrk. The typescript and much of the bibliography and index were prepared by Kathleen Horton with the assistance of Muriel Randall. Our personal research projects have been generously supported from the beginning by grants from the National Science Foundation and our respective home institutions."

Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson, Dezembro de 1966.

 

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2007 - Whittaker & Fernandez-Palacios - Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation 2ª Ed.

 

Island biogeography is an important subject for several reasons. First, it has been and remains a field which feeds ideas, theories, models, and tests of same into ecology, evolutionary biology, and biogeography. This is because islands provide natural scientists with model systems—replicated and simplified contexts—allowing us to isolate particular factors and processes and to explore their effects. Secondly, some of these theories have had great weight placed upon them in applications in nature conservation, as scientists and conservationists attempt to understand, predict and manage the biodiversity impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation. Thirdly, in our modern age of anthropogenic extinctions, islands qualify as ‘hotspots’: combining the attributes of high levels of unique biodiversity, of recent species extinctions, and of likely future species losses. The protection of the unique biological features of island ecosystems presents us with a considerable challenge, not only ecologically, but also because of the fragmented nature of the resource, scattered across all parts of the globe and all political systems, and generally below the horizons of even global media networks. It is our hope that this book will foster an increased interest in island ecology, evolution, and conservation and that it will be of value for students and researchers working in the fields of the life and environmental sciences.

This second edition is built upon the foundations of the first edition but has been substantially reorganized and updated to reflect what we consider the most important developments in island biogeography over the last decade. As will become evident to those who dip into this volume, we cover a great deal more than the biology of the systems. Indeed, we have expanded our coverage of the developmental history and environmental dynamics of islands in this second edition. Much fascinating new work has been published in this arena, and it is proving to be fundamental to improving our understanding of island evolution and ecology.

Another feature of this revision is the inclusion of a great deal of material on the island region of Macaronesia (the Happy Islands), and particularly of the Canaries. These islands are the Atlantic equivalent of Hawaii and the Galápagos, providing a rich mix of geological and evolutionary–ecological insights on the one hand and biodiversity conservation problems on the other. Much new and exciting work has been published on these islands since the first edition of this book was written, and we were keen to bring some of this work to the attention of a wider audience of students and scholars.

Island biogeography is a dynamic field. Whilst many ideas and themes have long pedigrees, new ideas, and insights continue to be generated, often building on long-running debates. We have attempted to reflect the diversity of viewpoints and interpretations within the field, although inevitably the selection of material reflects our own biases and interests.

There are many people we would like to thank, not least our students and the members of our research groups, with whom we have enjoyed illuminating discussions on many island themes. Ian Sherman, our editor at OUP, provided encouragement, help, and good advice at all stages of the project, and we thank him, Stefanie Gehrig, and their colleagues at the Press, for all their efforts. We thank the following colleagues for variously commenting on draft material, supplying answers to queries, and discussion of ideas: Gregory H. Adler, Rubén Barone, Paulo Borges, Pepe Carrillo, James H. Brown, Juan Domingo Delgado, Lawrence Heaney, Scott Henderson, Paco Hernán, Joaquín Hortal, Hugh Jenkyns, Richard Ladle, Mark Lomolino, Águedo Marrero, Aurelio Martín, Bob McDowall, Leopoldo Moro, Manuel Nogales, Pedro Oromí, Jonathan Price, Mike Rosenzweig, Dov Sax, Ángel Vera, and James Watson. All errors and omissions are of course our own to claim. Most of the figures were drawn by Ailsa Allen. Sue Stokes helped in compilation of material. We are grateful to those individuals and organizations who granted permission for the reproduction of copyright material: the derivation of which is indicated in the relevant figure and table legends, supported by the bibliography. Finally, we thank our families, Angela, Mark, and Claire and Neli, José Mari, and Quique, for all their support and tolerance during the preparation of this book. (Robert J.Whittaker and José Maria Fernández-Palacios)

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1997 - Daily et al. - Nature's Services: Societal Dependence On Natural Ecosystems

 

"The effort behind this book was initiated after dinner one night, under the Arizona desert sky, at an annual meeting of the Pew Fellows in Conservation and the Environment. A small group gathered informally to lament the near total lack of public appreciation of societal dependence upon natural ecosystems. This ignorance represents but one of a complex of interacting factors responsible for today’s array of anthropogenic disruptions of the biosphere. Yet it clearly represents a major hindrance to the formulation and implementation of policy designed to safeguard earth’s life-support systems. Moreover, lack of understanding of the character and value of natural ecosystems traces ultimately to a failure of the scientific community to generate, synthesize, and effectively convey the necessary information to the public.

A collective strategy to address this problem emerged from the group’s discussion, the first phase of which consisted of producing a rigorous, detailed synthesis of our current understanding of a suite of ecosystem services and a preliminary assessment of their economic value. Thus, our first task was to assemble a broad, interdisciplinary group of natural and social scientists to undertake this work. The individuals we approached were extremely enthusiastic and remained so throughout the project development, reflecting a widely shared recognition of the need for such a book. After producing a first draft of the chapters, contributors met in Purity Springs, New Hampshire (as a special session of the next year’s Pew Fellows meeting), to present and get feedback on their approach and analysis, and to discuss overarching issues pertaining to the whole book. This session was very productive, thanks in no small part to the participation of a large number of Pew Fellows not otherwise engaged in the undertaking. It led to the production of two additional chapters to make the book more comprehensive and coherent.

Coordinating this effort has been a great pleasure from the start, thanks to the support of the contributors, the Island Press staff, and the funders. I could not imagine a group of contributors more enthusiastic, timely, and responsive to queries, reviewers’ suggestions, and general harassment. Nor could I conceive of more helpful and knowledgeable editors: Barbara Dean and Kristy Manning were fully engaged in every aspect of shaping the book. External reviewers of the chapters provided constructive criticism in the best sense; we were very fortunate to have the economics expertise of Michael Dalton and David Layton, who kindly reviewed the book end to end. The project was made possible by the generous support of the Packard Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the W. Alton Jones Foundation; in addition, I was supported during the development of the book by the Winslow and Heinz foundations and by Peter and Helen Bing.

Scott Daily, Frédéric Lelièvre, and Kirsten Ziegenhagen were very helpful and encouraging with various aspects of the book. Jill Otto kindly tracked down obscure references, and Pat Browne and Steve Masley provided tremendous assistance with photocopying. I am grateful to Peter Bing, Sam Hurst, Donald Kennedy, Jonathan Lash, Peter Raven, Walter Reid, Kelsey Wirth, and Tim and Wren Wirth for freely offering advice and assistance with each phase of the group effort. Finally, I owe a special debt to Paul Ehrlich, Michael Kleeman, Jane Lubchenco, John Peterson Myers, Chuck Savitt, and Jeanne Sedgwick for providing extremely valuable insight and guidance on the overall course of this joint undertaking." (Gretchen C. Daily)

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