The formation, maintenance, and loss of island biodiversity.

Abstract

Due to the unique geographical features of large numbers, isolated by water and diverse formation histories, islands have become natural laboratories for ecological and evolutionary research. Islands have a high proportion of endemic species and disharmony in representing the species compared with that in the continent, which provides a good opportunity to explore the formation of island biodiversity. In this review, we focuse on island ecosystems and describes the progress of research in island biogeography in recent years from three aspects: formation, maintenance, and loss of island biodiversity. First, we take several representative island systems in the world as examples to introduce the formation mechanism of island biodiversity from species dispersal and immigration, population establishment and selection, species evolution and adaptive radiation. Based on the Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography, we then review the species-area relationship and species-isolation relationship and focus on the research progress in community assembly, including Diamond's rule, nestedness pattern, the framework of community structure of island biota, and species interactions on islands. We also discuss the high extinction risks of island species threatened from natural and human disturbances, especially from the impact of habitat loss and change, climate change, alien species invasion and the synergistic effect of these factors on the loss of island biodiversity. Finally, based on the status of island biodiversity, we summarized the current conservation practices for island biodiversity and possible research frontiers in island biogeographic studies.