| Abstract Detail
Ferns on Oceanic Islands - From Dispersal to Long Lasting Diversity Schneider, Harald [1], Ranker, Tom A. [2]. Ferns on Oceanic Islands - from dispersal to long lasting diversity. Ocean Islands are often considered 'laboratories of evolution' because of their isolation and biotic simplicity. Although species-level endemism is often quite high on islands compared to continental regions, species diversity is often relatively low. The combination of small size and low diversity has made oceanic island biotas particularly vulnerable to perturbations from human activity, including land conversion and the introduction of exotic species of plants, animals, and mi crobes. Post-human contact extinction rates of native biota on oceanic islands are generally higher than on continental regions. Although considerable research has been conducted on the faunas and flowering plant floras of many island groups, relatively little such work has been done on island dwelling ferns and lycophytes. The purpose of this symposium is to present recent and ongoing ecological and evolutionary research on the ferns and lycophyes on some oceanic islands and, hopefully, to stimulate new research in this area.
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1 - Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK
2 - University of Colorado, University Museum & Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 265 UCB, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA
Keywords:
ferns
oceanic islands
dispersal
colonization
evolution.
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY11
Location: Lake Michigan/Hilton
Date: Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: SY11001
Abstract ID:1199 |
