Island biogeography examples in africa

Biogeography is the study of the geographic location of a species.

Describe the role of island biogeography in evolution.

Island biogeography is the study of the species composition and species richness on islands. Island biogeography is a study aimed at establishing and explaining the factors that affect species diversity of a specific community. An island in this context, is not just a segment of land surrounded by water. It is any area of habitat surrounded by areas unsuitable for the species on the island.

Other examples of "islands" include dung piles, game preserves, mountain tops, and lakes. In , ecologists Robert MacArthur and E. Wilson, coined the Theory of Island Biogeography. This theory attempted to predict the number of species that would exist on a newly created island. It also explained how distance and area combine to regulate the balance between immigration and extinction in an island population.

Immigration is the appearance of a new species in a community. Extinction is then the disappearance of a species from a community.

Why is island biogeography important

This relationship is known as "species turnover", states that the equilibrium value for the island is proportional to the number of immigrants that come to the island, and the loss of individuals due to emigration and extinction. Wilson and R. MacArthur did several experiments and made several predictions about the Theory of Island Biogeography.

Some of their predictions included 1 species richness tends toward an equilibrium value and 2 the equilibrium value is the result of immigration, but emigration and extinction may also occur.