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Island Ecology

Module description

This module is divided into two sections: 1) Ecological Processes and Interactions on Islands and 2) Island Palaeoecology. The first part of the module focuses on the exclusive ecological processes occurring on islands, including the species impoverishment, disharmony and relictualism that created a scenario of attenuated interspecific competition yielding to issues such as species relaxation, ecological release or density compensation. The second part of the module examines more deeply both palaeoecology methods and results of the reconstruction of the ecological scenarios that existed in different oceanic islands in the near and remote past, and the conditions that have been created current biodiversity composition and distribution.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Island Ecology and Palaeoecology are the basis of all the differential processes that distinguish the ecological scenario, and thus the species composition and distribution patterns, between islands and continents. An introduction to the present and past conditions ruling in islands worldwide is thus indispensable for the proper knowledge and understanding of the islands singularities that have created such specific biotic assemblages though time, as is demonstrated by its huge endemicity rates, both of neoendemic and palaeoendemic species. The value of learning the methods of the insular palaeoecological reconstruction, themselves of highest interest, will also contribute to the understanding of the on-going global change scenario and possible fate of islands.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Describe in detail the origin of the singularity of oceanic island ecology and the patterns and products that such singularity can create on the insular biotic assemblages
• 2. Discuss the differences among island and mainland pollination and dispersal connectance networks
• 3. Summarise the differences existing between palaeo- and neoendemic species features and distributions

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Apply statistical and modelling skills to understand and interpret quantitative analyses using the more important statistical computational tools and packages
• 5. Analyse scientific results and determine their strength and validity

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Communicate effectively through oral presentations, written reports, posters and scientific publication
• 7. Demonstrate management skills, such as decision-making, problem definition, project design and evaluation, risk management, teamwork and coordination, and resource and time management

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Short introduction: ecological processes and interactions on islands
• Exclusive ecological processes working on islands

o Insular communities features
o The islands as competition experiments

• Relaxation and ecological release
• Pollination and dispersal networks on islands
• The emergence of island super-generalists and of bizarre mutualisms
• Secondary dispersal and the double service

o Habitat fragmentation and metapopulation dynamics

• Short introduction: island paleoecology
• What is natural?

o Oceanic islands as the last regions of the planet colonised by humans
o Quantifying the impact of human arrival on the pristine insular nature

• Ecological baselines
• The fossil record as a clue for the restoration of habitats and ecological interactions on islands

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons that are approved by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. If deferred, the format and timing of the re-assessment for each of the summative assessments is detailed in the table above ('Details of re-assessment'). The mark given for a deferred assessment will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral - if you have failed the module (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) and the module cannot be condoned, you will be required to complete a re-assessment for each of the failed components on the module. The format and timing of the re-assessment for each of the summative assessments is detailed in the table above ('Details of re-assessment'). If you pass the module following re-assessment, your module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Pre-reading texts:

• Gorman, Martin. 1979. Island ecology. London: Chapman & Hall.
• Whittaker, Robert J., and José María Fernández-Palacios. 2007. Island biogeography: Ecology, evolution and conservation. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
• Walsh, Stephen J., and Carlos F. Mena, eds. 2013. Science and conservation in the Galápagos Islands: Social and ecological interactions. Berlin: Springer.
• Wilkinson, D. M. 2004. The parable of Green Mountain: Ascension Island, ecosystem construction and ecological fitting. Journal of Biogeography 31:1–4.

Key texts:

• Checke, and Hume. 2008. Lost land of the Dodo: An ecological history of Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
• Fernández-Palacios, José María, and Carlo Morici, eds. 2004. Ecología insular/Island Ecology. Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain: Cabildo Insular de La Palma.
• Fernández-Palacios, José María, and José Luis Martín Esquivel, eds. 2001. Naturaleza de las Islas Canarias: Ecología y conservación. Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Spain: Editorial Turquesa.
• Juan, Carlos, Brent C. Emerson, Pedro Oromí, and Godfrey M. Hewitt. 2000. Colonization and diversification: Towards a phylogeographic synthesis for the Canary Islands. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 15:104–109.
• Kunkel, Günther, ed. 1976. Biogeography and ecology in the Canary Islands. The Hague: Dr. Junk.
• Marshall, Andrew J., and Bruce M. Beehler. 2007. The ecology of Papua, Part One and Part Two. Singapore: Periplus.
• Serrano, Artur R. M., Paulo A. V. Borges, Mário Boieiro, and Pedro Oromí, eds. 2010. Terrestrial arthropods of Macaronesia: Biodiversity, ecology and evolution. Lisbon, Portugal: Sociedade Portuguesa de Entomología.
• Ziegler, A. C. 2002. Hawaiian natural history, ecology, and evolution. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press.

Key words search

Islands, ecology, pollination, paleoecology, oceanic, insular, fossil, restoration, habits