Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 20 December 1963:
Vol. 142. no. 3599, pp. 1575 - 1577
DOI: 10.1126/science.142.3599.1575
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Species Abundance: Natural Regulation of Insular Variation

Terrell H. Hamilton 1, Ira Rubinoff 2, Robert H. Barth Jr. 3, and Guy L. Bush 3

1 Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin
2 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
3 Biological Laboratories, Harvard University

Variation in numbers of land plant species on islands in the Galapagos Archipelago can be predicted on the basis of elevation, area of the adjacent island, distance from the nearest island, and distance from the center of the archipelago, but not on the basis of the area of the host island. Multiple linear regression (y = bx1 + bx2 . . .) gives better "goodness of fit" than curvilinear analysis (y = bxz). The variation in number of species on large islands can be predicted more accurately than the variation on small ones. Ecologic diversity and isolation are the natural regulators of species abundance.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Natural Restoration of the Species-Area Relation for a Lizard After a Hurricane.
T. W. Schoener, D. A. Spiller, and J. B. Losos (2001)
Science 294, 1525-1528
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Supersaturated Island Faunas: A Species-Age Relationship for Lizards on Post-Pleistocene Land-Bridge Islands.
B. A. Wilcox and B. A. WILCOX (1978)
Science 199, 996-998
   Abstract »    PDF »
Glacial Migrations of Plants: Island Biogeographical Evidence.
B. B. Simpson (1974)
Science 185, 698-700
   Abstract »    PDF »
Species Number and Endemism: The Galapagos Archipelago Revisited.
M. P. Johnson and P. H. Raven (1973)
Science 179, 893-895
   Abstract »    PDF »
Statistical Models for Predicting Numbers of Plant Species.
D. R. Dawdy and T. H. Hamilton (1964)
Science 146, 1074-1075
   PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)