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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Shifting Paradigms In Island Biology, Sherwin Carlquist
Shifting Paradigms In Island Biology, Sherwin Carlquist
Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany
The ease of travel by jet aircraft has opened up island areas not only for study but also for introduction of weeds, pests, and pathogens. We are at a critical juncture in the study of island organisms, which have become more accessible at the same time that they are vanishing. With the urgency for study of island organisms, we have many new tools, especially molecular ones, which have validated the existence of long-distance dispersal in unexpected ways. These tools, together with the ease of staying for longer periods on islands, have permitted us to understand many aspects of evolutionary adaptation …
Plant Conservation In The Juan Fernandez Archipelago, Chile, Tod F. Stuessy, Ulf Swenson, Daniel J. Crawford, Gregory Anderson, Mario Silva O.
Plant Conservation In The Juan Fernandez Archipelago, Chile, Tod F. Stuessy, Ulf Swenson, Daniel J. Crawford, Gregory Anderson, Mario Silva O.
Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany
Oceanic archipelagos often hold very specialized floras with high degrees of endemism. These floras are frequently highly vulnerable to disturbance by natural causes and human intervention. The Juan Fernandez Islands (Chile) in the Pacific Ocean are a small archipelago of only three islands. Since discovery in 1574 by Juan Fernandez, human activities have altered floristic composition and survival circumstances of the endemic species. In this paper we document past and present means of disturbance, both anthropogenic and natural, which have influenced the native vegetation. The most destructive past activities have been logging and .introduction of animals and plants, both deliberately …
Conserving Plants As Evolutionary Entities: Successes And Unanswered Questions From New Zealand And Elsewhere, Ian A. E. Atkinson
Conserving Plants As Evolutionary Entities: Successes And Unanswered Questions From New Zealand And Elsewhere, Ian A. E. Atkinson
Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany
Saving a species from extinction may not insure that its future will continue as before, even when the surviving population is in a wild habitat. Former selection forces may be missing or replaced by others so that the species develops along a different evolutionary pathway. Such disruption of evolutionary direction may be particularly important for island taxa given that modification by humans and their introduced organisms is making many islands more similar to continental habitats. In restoring habitats for island species, special attention should therefore be given to identify ing the major selective forces likely to have been operating during …