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Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson's The Theory of Island Biogeography, first published by Princeton in 1967, is one of the most influential books on ecology and evolution to appear in the past half century. By developing a general mathematical theory to explain a crucial ecological problem – the regulation of species diversity in island populations – the book transformed the science of biogeography and ecology as a whole. In The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited, some of today's most prominent biologists assess the continuing impact of MacArthur and Wilson's book four decades after its publication. Following an opening chapter in which Wilson reflects on island biogeography in the 1960s, fifteen chapters evaluate and demonstrate how the field has extended and confirmed – as well as challenged and modified – MacArthur and Wilson's original ideas. Providing a broad picture of the fundamental ways in which the science of island biogeography has been shaped by MacArthur and Wilson's landmark work, The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited also points the way toward exciting future research.
Foreword by Robert M. May vii
Preface by Jonathan B. Losos and Robert E. Ricklefs xi
List of Contributors xv
- Island Biogeography in the 1960s: Theory and Experiment by Edward O. Wilson 1
- Island Biogeography Theory: Reticulations and Reintegration of "a Biogeography of the Species" by Mark V. Lomolino, James H. Brown, and Dov. F. Sax 13
- The MacArthur- Wilson Equilibrium Model: A Chronicle of What It Said and How It Was Tested by Thomas W. Schoener 52
- A General Dynamic Theory of Oceanic Island Biogeography: Extending the MacArthur- Wilson Theory to Accommodate the Rise and Fall of Volcanic Islands by Robert J. Whittaker, Kostas A. Triantis, and Richard J. Ladle 88
- The Trophic Cascade on Islands by John Terborgh 116
- Toward a Trophic Island Biogeography: Reflections on the Interface of Island Biogeography and Food Web Ecology by Robert D. Holt 143
- The Theories of Island Biogeography and Metapopulation Dynamics: Science Marches Forward, but the Legacy of Good Ideas Lasts for a Long Time by Ilkka Hanski 186
- Beyond Island Biogeography: Theory Understanding Habitat Fragmentation in the Real World by William F. Laurance 214
- Birds of the Solomon Islands: The Domain of the Dynamic Equilibrium Theory and Assembly Rules, with Comments on the Taxon Cycle by Daniel Simberloff and Michael D. Collins 237
- Neutral Theory and the Theory of Island Biogeography by Stephen P. Hubbell 264
- Evolutionary Changes: Following Island Colonization in Birds Empirical Insights into the Roles of Microevolutionary Processes by Sonya Clegg 293
- Sympatric Speciation, Immigration, and Hybridization in Island Birds by Peter R. Grant and B. Rosemary Grant 326
- Island Biogeography of Remote Archipelagoes: Interplay between Ecological and Evolutionary Processes by Rosemary G. Gillespie and Bruce G. Baldwin 358
- Dynamics of Colonization and Extinction on Islands: Insights from Lesser Antillean Birds by Robert E. Ricklefs 388
- The Speciation- Area Relationship by Jonathan B. Losos and Christina E. Parent 415
- Ecological and Genetic Models of Diversity: Lessons across Disciplines by Mark Vellend and John L. Orrock 439
Index 463
Jonathan B. Losos is professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the curator of herpetology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Robert E. Ricklefs is the Curators' Professor of Biology at University of Missouri, St. Louis.
"This will be an invaluable work for students and faculty in ecology, evolution, or biogeography."
– Choice
"[This book] deserve[s] to be widely read and heavily cited."
– Lawrence R. Heaney, Quarterly Review of Biology
"[T]his revisitation of TTIB will be very satisfying. Even for die-hard predictionists (such as myself), The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited has a wealth of ideas whose general predictive ability begs testing."
– David J. Currie, BioScience
"For anyone who needs to catch up on where island biogeography has been and is now, and for any graduate students interested in the topic, this book provides a great review and many pointers for the way forward. The volume could serve as the basis for any number of graduate seminars."
– Richard O. Bierregaard, Ecology
"The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited is a quick and thorough introduction to island biogeography theory and its role in the development of ecology as an analytical science. For established workers, it provides excellent memory-jogging reviews."
– Harry F. Recher, Austral Ecology
"With such a stellar cast, it is no surprise that the chapters are consistently clear, authoritative and provoking [...] While some chapters are unquestionably technical, this rich volume is a superb testament to a powerful idea."
– Michael Brooke, Geographical Journal
"This wonderful and lively book provides a fitting forty-year retrospective on MacArthur and Wilson's seminal volume. I can easily see it on the shelf of every serious graduate student of community ecology. It has all the 'right' names in it – many of them personal friends of MacArthur and Wilson – plus a bunch of rising stars of the next generation. This book should create quite a ripple in the field."
– William H. Schlesinger, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
"The chapters are all written by leaders in the field, the historical reviews are succinct and enlightening, and the perspectives are different enough to prevent repetition. Every author here whose work I know well has presented something new in the way of theoretical insight, data portraying an ecological pattern, or synthetic perspective on the field."
– Henry S. Horn, Princeton University
