Towards a glacial-sensitive model of island biogeography

Although the role that Pleistocene glacial cycles have played in shaping the present biota of oceanic islands world-wide has long been recognized, their geographical, biogeographical and ecological implications have not yet been fully incorporated within existing biogeographical models. Here we summ...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández-Palacios, José María, Rijsdijk, Kenneth F., Norder, Sietze J., Otto, Rüdiger, Nascimento Reyes, Lea de, Fernández-Lugo, Silvia, Tjørve, Even, Whittaker, Robert J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)
Repositorio:RIULL. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
OAI Identifier:oai:riull.ull.es:915/16760
Acceso en línea:http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/16760
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Climate change
Extinction
Immigration
Island biogeography
Island theory
Oceanic islands
Pleistocene
Sea level fluctuations
Species richness
Descripción
Sumario:Although the role that Pleistocene glacial cycles have played in shaping the present biota of oceanic islands world-wide has long been recognized, their geographical, biogeographical and ecological implications have not yet been fully incorporated within existing biogeographical models. Here we summarize the different types of impacts that glacial cycles may have had on oceanic islands, including cyclic changes in climate, shifts in marine currents and wind regimes and, especially, cycles of sea level change. The latter have affected geographical parameters such as island area, isolation and elevation. They have also influenced the configurations of archipelagos via island fusion and fission, and cycles of seamount emergence and submergence. We hypothesize that these sea level cycles have had significant impacts on the biogeographical processes shaping oceanic island biotas, influencing the rates and patterns of immigration and extinction and hence species richness. Here we provide a first step toward the development of a glacial-sensitive model of island biogeography, representing the tentative temporal evolution of those biogeographical parameters during the last glacial cycle. From this reasoning we attempt to derive predictions regarding the imprint of sea level cycles on genetic, demographic or biogeographical patterns within remote island biotas.