MacArthur and Wilson’s theory (1967) set out to identify and measure the variables involved in the colonisation of islands by biota and their subsequent evolution or extinction. The key biogeographical variables identified by their theory were island size and distance from the mainland. They suggested that an island’s biodiversity is proportionate to the island’s size (i.e. the larger the island the higher the species number) and inversely proportionate to its distance from the mainland (i.e. more remote islands tend to support less species). Equally significantly they argued that the number of species on an island is in a state of dynamic equilibrium – diversity eventually stabilises but turnover remains high as species continually colonise and go extinct. Dynamism is a defining concept when attempting to understand the biogeography of islands and, in the Mediterranean in particular, the impact of human activity over millennia has resulted in very high levels of dynamism with profound consequences for the biota.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Alcover, J.A., Sans, A. and Palmer, M. (1998) The extent of extinction of mammals on islands. Journal of Biogeography 25: 913–918.
Allen, H.D. (2003) Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change. Progress in Physical Geography 27: 359–377.
Azzaroli, A. (1981) Cainozoic mammals and the biogeography of the Island of Sardinia, western Mediterranean Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 36: 107–111.
Barbero, M., Loisel, R. and Quézel, P. (1995) Les essences arbores des îles mediterranennes: leur role écologique et paysager. Ecologia Mediterranea 21: 53–69.
Bennett, A.F. (2003) Linkages in the Landscape: The Role of Corridors and Connectivity in Wildlife Conservation. IUCN.
Bergmeier, E. (2002) The vegetation of the high mountains of Crete: a revision and multivariate analysis. Phytocoenologia 32(2): 205–249.
Blondel, J. and Aronson, J. (1999) Biology and Wildlife of the Mediterranean Region. Oxford University Press.
Boteva, D., Griffiths, G.H. and Dimopoulos, P. (2004) A method for the evaluation and mapping of the nature conservation significance of habitats using GIS: an example from Crete, Greece. Journal for Nature Conservation 12: 237–250.
Council of Europe (1992) Council Directive 92/43 EEC of 21 May 1992 on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and Wild Fauna and Flora. O.J. Eur. Comm. No. L206/7: 7–50.
Darwin, C. (1859) On the Origins of Species By Means of Natural Selection. J. Murray: London.
Davis, P.H. (ed.) (1965–1980) Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Vols. I–X. Edinburgh University Press.
Davis, S.D., Heywood, V.H. and Hamilton, A.C. (eds.) (1994) Centres of Plant Diversity. WWF/IUCN: Cambridge.
Delanoë, O., De Montmollin, B. and Olivier, L. (1996) Conservation of the Mediterranean Island plants. 1. Strategy for Action. IUCN: Cambridge.
De Montmollin, B. and Strahm, W. (eds.) (2005) The Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants. IUCN/SSC Mediterranean Islands Plant Specialist Group.
Donázar, J.A., Gangoso, L., Forero, M.G. and Juste, J. (2005) Presence, richness and extinction of birds of prey in the Mediterranean and Macaronesian islands. Journal of Biogeography 32: 1701–1713.
Egli, B., Gerstberger, P., Greuter, W. and Risse, H. (1990) Horstrissea dolinicola, a new genus and species of umbels (Umbelliferae, Apiaceae). Wildenowia 19: 389–399.
Farina, A. and Naveh, Z. (eds.) (1993) Landscape Approach to regional planning: The future of the Mediterranean Landscapes. Special Volume. Landscape and Urban Planning 24.
Forman, R.T.T. and Godron M. (1986) Landscape Ecology. Wiley: New York.
Gamisans, J. (1991) La Végétation de la Corse. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la ville de Genève.
Gasc, J.P., Cabela, A., Crnobrnja-Isailovic, J., Dolmen, D., Grossenbacher, K., Haffner, P., Lescure, J., Martens, H., MartGnez Rica, J.P., Maurin, H., Oliveira, M.E., Sofianidou, T.S., Veith, M. and Zuiderwijk, A. (eds.) (1997) Atlas of amphibians and reptiles in Europe. Collection Patrimoines Naturels 29, Societas Europaea Herpetologica, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle & Service du Patrimoine Naturel, Paris, 496 pp.
Grant, P.R. (1998) Evolution on Islands. Oxford University Press.
Green, B. and Vos, W. (2001) Threatened Landscapes: Conserving Cultural Environments. Spon Press: London.
Greuter, W. (1972) The relict element of the flora of Crete and its evolutionary significance. In V.H. Valentine (ed.) Taxonomy, Phytogeography and Evolution. Academic Press: London, pp. 161–177.
Greuter, W. (1974) Floristic report on the Cretan area. Memorias da Sociedade Broteriana 24: 131–171.
Greuter, W. (1979) The origins and evolution of island floras as exemplified by the Aegean Archipelago. In D. Bramwell (ed.) Plants and Islands. Academic Press: London, pp. 87–106.
Greuter, W. (1991) Botanical diversity, endemism, rarity and extinction in the Mediterranean area: an analysis based on the published volumes of Med–Checklist. Botanika Chronika 10: 63–79.
Greuter, W. (1994) Extinctions in the Mediterranean areas. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B 344: 41–46.
Greuter, W. (1995) Origin and peculiarities of Mediterranean Island floras. Ecologia Mediterranea 21: 1–10.
Greuter, W. (2001) Diversity of Mediterranean Island floras. Bocconea 13: 55–64.
Greuter, W. and Strid, A. (1981) Notes on Cardaegean plants. 2. A new species of Ranunculus sect. Ranunculus from the mountains of Kriti. Wildenowia 11: 267–269.
Greuter, W., Burdet, H. and Long, G. (eds.) (1984, 1986, 1989) Med–checklist. A Critical Inventory of Vascular Plants of the Circum–Mediterranean Countries. Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève, Genève.
Gritti, E.S., Smith, B. and Sykes, M.T. (2006) Vulnerability of Mediterranean Basin ecosystems to climate change and invasion by exotic plant species. Journal of Biogeography 33: 145–157.
Grove, R.H. and Di Castri, F. (1991) Biogeography of Mediterranean invasions. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Grove, A.T. and Rackham, O. (2001) The Nature of the Mediterranean Europe. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT.
Heywood, V.H. (1995) The Mediterranean flora in the context of world biodiversity. Ecologia Mediterranea 21(1/2): 11–18.
Höner, D. and Greuter, W. (1988) Plant population dynamics and species turnover on small islands near Karpathos (South Aegean, Greece). Vegetatio 77: 129–137.
Huggett, R.J. (1998) Fundamentals of Biogeography. Routledge: London.
Hulme, P.E. (2004) Islands, invasions and impacts: a Mediterranean perspective. In J.M. Fernández-Palacios and C. Morici (eds.) Ecología Insular/Island Ecology. Asociación Española De Ecología Terrestre, pp. 359–383.
Huston, M.A. (1994) Biological Diversity: The Co-existence of Species in Changing Landscapes. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Jongman, R.H.G. and Pungetti, G. (2004) Ecological Networks and Greenways: Concept, Design, Implementation. Cambridge University Press.
Kazakis, G., Ghosn, D., Vogiatzakis, I.N. and Papanastasis, V.P. (2007) Vascular plant diversity and climate change in the alpine zone of the Lefka Ori, Crete. Biodiversity and Conservation. 16: 1603–1615.
Kizos, Th. and Koulouri, M. (2006) Agricultural landscape dynamics in the Mediterranean: Lesvos (Greece) case study using evidence from the last three centuries. Environmental Science and Policy 9: 330–342.
Kruckenberg, A.R. and Rabinowitz, D. (1985) Biological aspects of endemism in higher plants. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 16: 447–479.
Kuhbier, H., Alcover, J.A. and D’Arellano, G. (eds.) (1984) Biogeography and Ecology of the Pityusic Islands. Dr. W. Junk Publishers: The Hague.
López-de-Heredia, U., Jiménez, P., Díaz-Fernández, P. and Gil, L. (2005) The Balearic Islands: a reservoir of cpDNA genetic variation for evergreen oaks. Journal of Biogeography 32: 939–949.
MacArthur, R.H. and Wilson, E.O. (1967) The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.
Marra, A.C. (2005) Pleistocene mammals of Mediterranean Islands. Quaternary International 129: 5–14.
Mayer, A. (1995) Comparative Study of the Coastal Vegetation of Sardinia (Italy) and Crete (Greece) with Respect to the Effects of Human Influence. IHW-Verlag: Eching bei München.
Médail, F. and Quézel, P. (1997) Hot-spots analysis for conservation of plant biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens 84: 112–127.
Médail, F. and Verlaque, R. (1997) Ecological characteristics and rarity of endemic plants from southeastern France and Corsica: Implications for biodiversity conservation. Biological Conservation 80: 269–281.
Médail, F. and Vidal, E. (1998) Organisation de la richesse et de la composition floristiques d’îles de la Méditerranée occidentale (sud-est de la France). Canadian Journal of Botany 76(2): 321–331.
Mitchell, F.J.G. (2005) How open were European primeval forests? Hypothesis testing using palaeoecological data. Journal of Ecology 93: 168–177.
Myers, A.A. and Giller, P.S. (eds.) (1988) Analytical Biogeography: An Integrated Approach to the Study of Animal and Plant Distributions. Chapman & Hall: London.
Naveh, Z. (1988) Multifactorial reconstruction of semi-arid Mediterranean landscapes for multipurpose land uses. In E. Allen (ed.) The Reconstruction of Disturbed Arid Lands: An Ecological Approach. Westview Press: Boulder Col., pp. 234–256.
Naveh, Z. (1990) Ancient man’s impact on the Mediterranean landscape in Israel–ecological and evolutionary perspectives. In S. Bottema, G. Entjes-Nieborg and W. Van Zeist (eds.) Man’s Roles in the Shaping of the Eastern Mediterranean Landscape, pp. 43–50.
Naveh, Z. (1994) From biodiversity to ecodiversity–a landscape ecological approach to conservation and restoration. Restoration Ecology 2: 180–189.
Naveh. Z. (1998) Ecological and cultural landscape restoration and the cultural evolution towards a post-industrial symbiosis between human society and nature. Restoration Ecology 6: 135–143.
Naveh, Z. (2000) What is holistic landscape ecology? A conceptual introduction. Landscape and Urban Planning 50: 7–26.
Nilson, G., Andrén, C., Ioannidis, Y. and Dimaki, M. (1999) Ecology and conservation of the Milos viper, Macrovipera schweizeri (Werner, 1935) Amphibia Reptilia 20, 355–375.
Palmer, M. and Pons, G.X. (1996) Diversity in West Mediterranean islet: effect of rat presence on a beetle guild. Acta Oecologica 17: 297–305.
Palmer, M., Pons, G.X., Cambefort, I. and Alcover, J.A. (1999) Historical processes and environmental factors as determinants of inter-island differences in endemic faunas: the case of the Balearic Islands. Journal of Biogeography 26: 813–823.
Panitsa, M. and Tzanoudakis, D. (2001) A floristic investigation of the islet groups Arki and Lipsi (East Aegean Area, Greece). Folia Geobotanica 36: 265–279.
Pinto-Correia, T. (2000) Future development in Portuguese rural areas: how to manage agricultural support for landscape conservation? Landscape & Urban Planning 50, 95–106.
Quézel, P. (1981) The study of groupings in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean: some methodological aspects. In F. Di Castri, D.W. Goodall and R.L. Sprecht (eds.) Mediterranean-type Shrublands. Elsevier: Amsterdam, pp. 87–93.
Rackham, O. and Moody, J.A. (1996) The Making of the Cretan Landscape. Manchester University Press: Manchester.
Ratcliff, D. (ed.) (1977). A Nature Conservation Review: The Selection of Sites of National Importance to Nature Conservation in Britain. Cambridge University Press, 401 p.
Rechinger, K.H. (1943) Flora Aegea. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Kl., Denkschr. 105(1).
Rechinger, K.H. and Rechinger-Moser, F. (1951) Phytogeographia Aegaea. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Kl., Denkschr. 105(2): 1–208.
Ricketts, T.H. et al. (2005) Pinpointing and preventing imminent extinctions. PNAS 102(51): 18497–18501.
Riela, N., Traveset, A. and Garcia, O. (2002) Breakage of mutualisms by exotic species: the case of Cneorum tricoccon L. in the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean Sea). Journal of Biogeography 29: 713–719.
Runemark, H. (1971) Distributional patterns in the Aegean. In P.H. Davis, P.C. Harper and J.C. Hedge (eds.) Plant Life of S.W. Asia. Botanical Society of Edinburgh, pp. 3–12.
Sará, M. and Morand, S. (2002) Island incidence and mainland population density: mammals from Mediterranean Islands. Diversity and Distributions 8: 1–9.
Schüle, W. (1993) Mammals, vegetation and the initial human settlement of the Mediterranean Islands: a palaeoecological approach. Journal of Biogeography 20: 399–411.
Snogerup, S. (1985) The Mediterranean Islands. In C. Gomez-Campo (ed.) Plant Conservation in the Mediterranean Area. Dordrecht, pp. 159–173.
Snogerup, S. and Snogerup, B. (1987) Repeated floristical observations on islets in the Aegean. Plant Systematics and Evolution 155:143–164.
Spellerberg, I.F. and Sawyer, J.W.D. (1999) An introduction to applied biogeography. Cambridge University Press: New York.
Stuessy, T.F. and Ono, M. (eds) (1998) Evolution and Speciation of Island Plants. Cambridge University Press: New York.
Thompson, J.D. (2005) Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean. Oxford University Press, p. 293.
Turland, N.J., Chilton, L. and Press, J.R. (1993) Flora of the Cretan area. Annotated Checklist and Atlas. HMSO: London.
Tzanoudakis, D. and Kypriotakis, Z. (1993) Allium platakisii, a new species of the Greek insular flora. Flora Mediterranea 3, 309–314.
Vera, F.W.M. (2000) Grazing Ecology and Forest History. CABI: Wallingford, CT.
Vogiatzakis, I.N., Griffiths, G.H. and Mannion, A.M. (2003) Environmental factors and vegetation composition Lefka Ori massif, Crete, S. Aegean. Global Ecology and Biogeography 12: 131–146.
Vos, W. (2001) The Solano Basin, Italy. In B. Green and W. Vos (eds.) Threatened Landscapes: Conserving Cultural Environments. Spon Press: London, pp. 91–99.
Wallace, A.R. (1892) Island Life: Or the Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras Including a Revision and Attempted Solution of the Problem of Geological Climates. Macmillan: London.
Whittaker, R.J. (1998) Island Biogeography. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Wiens, J.A. and Moss, M.R. (eds.) (2005) Issues and Perspectives in Landscape Ecology. Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vogiatzakis, I., Griffiths, G.H. (2008). Island Biogeography and Landscape Ecology. In: Vogiatzakis, I., Pungetti, G., Mannion, A.M. (eds) Mediterranean Island Landscapes. Landscape Series, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5064-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5064-0_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5063-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5064-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)