17-Oct-2025
New study overturns long-held assumptions about how plants spread to #islands
A new study from #Iceland’s #Surtsey island shows that #birds carried most of the #plants that colonised the island, challenging long-held beliefs that seed or fruit shape determines how plants spread

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1102385

#science #ecology #IslandBioGeography

【🎉Latest accepted article】
Climate factors and island area drive leaf economic trait variation by altering plant species richness and soil properties on tropical islands

#Growth_defenseTrade_off | #IslandBiogeography | #LeafDryMatterContent | #PlantDiversity | #SoilNutrients | #SpecificLeafArea

https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf145

Populations of the silvereye, a small passerine bird, show several measures of genetic diversity that vary with island size in the Solomon islands. This mirrors the commonly-seen relationship between island size and taxonomic diversity.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0692?af=R

#Science #Genetics #IslandBiogeography #Diversity #Birds

New preprint using neutral models instead of randomised null-models for analysis of species distribution patterns (#nestedness, #segregation).

Might also interest #coalescence, island #biogeography, bird people.

Has a quick-start tutorial.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.07.622409v1

#ecology #islandBiogeography #communityEcology #birds

Great to see our new paper out in the Journal of Biogeography!

We found that island characteristics and competitor density/presence impacts bird foraging traits in an island chain of the Indonesian Archipelago, showing the eco/evo processes at
work in #biogeography

This paper emerged from a great collaboration between Halu Oleo University in Kendari and Trinity College Dublin, dating back to 1999

#ornithology #birds #evolution #IslandBiogeography

https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14838

I'm inspired by the #SkyIslands of southern Arizona and northern Sonora. They're literally islands, and a giant laboratory for the study of evolution. The hashtag is in my profile so it's about time I wrote about them! Looking forward to more, and hoping to get directly involved in research somehow. Maybe I can be a volunteer bug collector?

#IslandBiogeography
#blaugust2023
#scienceblogging
#sciencewriting
#tucson
#evolution

https://sfmatheson.blogspot.com/2023/08/sky-islands-one-of-earths-great.html

9-Mar-2023
Island-inhabiting giants, dwarves more vulnerable to #extinction

Human arrival on islands catalyzed disappearance of iconic animal species

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/982265 #science #ecology #islands #IslandBioGeography

Fantastic new paper on the phylogeography of Solomon Island blossom bats (Melonycteris and Nesonycteris) by Lavery et al: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.14585?af=R

#bats #Pacific #IslandBiogeography #SolomonIslands

Walked to the grocer earlier and listened to one of my current reads.

#audiobooks #davidquammen #thesongofthedodo #evolution #biology #islandbiogeography #sixthextinction