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Nonequilibrium Diversity Dynamics of the Lesser Antillean Avifauna
Robert E. Ricklefs,1*Eldredge Bermingham123
MacArthur and Wilson's model of island
diversity predicts an increase in the number of species until
colonization and extinctionare balanced at a long-term steady state.
We appraise this modelon an evolutionary time scale by molecular
phylogenetic analysisof the colonization of the Lesser Antilles by
small land birds.The pattern of accumulation of species with time,
estimated bygenetic divergence between island and source lineages,
rejectsa homogeneous model of colonization and extinction. Rather, ourresults suggest an abrupt, roughly 10-fold increase in colonizationrate or a 90% mass extinction event 0.55 to 0.75 million yearsago.
1 Department of Biology, University of
Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63121, USA.
2 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama.
3 Department of Biology,
McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H3A
1B1, Canada.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
ricklefs{at}umsl.edu
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:
In Science Magazine
TECHNICAL COMMENTS
Joshua L. Cherry, Frederick R. Adler, Kevin P. Johnson, Robert E. Ricklefs, and Eldredge Bermingham (10 May 2002) Science296 (5570), 975a.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.296.5570.975a] |Full Text »|PDF »
PERSPECTIVES
Thomas Brooks and Michael Leonard Smith (16 November 2001) Science294 (5546), 1469.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1066927] |Summary »|Full Text »|PDF »
REPORTS
Thomas W. Schoener, David A. Spiller, and Jonathan B. Losos (16 November 2001) Science294 (5546), 1525.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1064396] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
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