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Island ecology is the study of island organisms and their interactions with each other and the environment. Islands account for nearly 1/6 of earth’s total land area, [ 1 ] yet the ecology of island ecosystems is vastly different from that of mainland communities.
An ecological island is a term used ... (although some native animals, weka for example, ... Evolutionary processes resulted in a unique assemblage of plants and ...
One example is the rare Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana), which is only native to the coastal bluffs in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve near San Diego, and off the coast on Santa Rosa Island. [4] Another example is the Tecate Cypress ( Cupressus forbesii ), which only occurs in four stands near the Mexican border of California.
In addition to size increase, island plants may also exhibit "insular woodiness". [49] The most notable examples are the megaherbs of New Zealand's subantarctic islands. [citation needed] Increased leaf and seed size was also reported in some island species regardless of growth form (herbaceous, bush, or tree). [50]
For example, cichlids in the East African Rift Lakes have diversified into many more endemic species than the other fish families in the same lakes, possibly due to such factors. [14] Plants that become endemic on isolated islands are often those which have a high rate of dispersal and are able to reach such islands by being dispersed by birds ...
Larger islands with diverse ecological niches encouraged floral and faunal adaptive radiation, whereby multiple species evolved from a common ancestor, each species adapted to a different ecological niche; the various species of Hawaiian honeycreepers (Family Drepanididae) are a classic example. Other adaptations to island ecologies include ...
Floating island La Rota in Posta Fibreno lake, Italy. Natural floating islands are composed of vegetation growing on a buoyant mat of plant roots or other organic detritus. In aquatic regions of Northwestern Europe, several hundred hectares or a couple thousand acres of floating meadows (German Schwingrasen, Dutch trilveen) have been preserved, which are partly used as agricultural land ...
Borneo island, made up of three countries which are Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Brunei (Sultanate) and Indonesia (Kalimantan), is the third largest island in the world. Borneo island is a region that is rich in biodiversity. It consists of 15,000 plant species, and more than 1,400 amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and insects.