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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 in New Zealand, and increasingly in Australia, to refer to an area of land (not necessarily an actual island) isolated by natural or artificial means from the surrounding land, [1] where a natural micro-habitat exists amidst a larger differing ecosystem.
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.
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 ...
An example of a keystone species in the North American deserts would be the coyote or mountain lion. These two predators can control the population and distribution of a large number of prey species. A single mountain lion can roam an area of hundreds of kilometers, in which deer, rabbits, and bird species are partly controlled by a predator of ...
The Commission's 1997 report, Ecological Regions of North America, provides a framework that may be used by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic researchers as a basis for risk analysis, resource management, and environmental study of the continent's ecosystems. [1]
The Big Bend Coastal Marsh is an extremely narrow but long region, following the Gulf coast beginning near the mouth of the Ochlockonee River (near 29° 45' N, 85° W), until just north of Tampa Bay (near 28° 14' N, 82° 45' W), a distance of approximately 280 miles (450 km), but typically penetrating only 0.5 to 1.5 miles (0.80 to 2.41 km ...
For example, as the area of a series of islands increase, there is a direct relationship to the increasing species richness of primary producers. It is important to consider that island species area relationships will behave somewhat differently than mainland species area relationships, however the connections between the two can still prove to ...