Chainsaw massacre in the Florida Keys - the effects of island size on species immigration and extinction rates
(chosen for Sept 28 discussion)

From Wilson and Simberloff, 1969.
This day started like most days in this little piece of paradise. The sun rose over the calm waters, softly warming up the mangrove trees sticking out above the ocean surface. Dan and his crew slowly approached the island, anchored their boat, and waded through the water to the little heap of branches and leaves. They hunted for arthropods, counting them, identifying species. They looked in every little corner, under every leaf, broke hollow twigs to make sure no insect was hiding inside. Once all animals were accounted for, the men returned to the barge and got their tools. Armed with chainsaws and machetes, they cut away at the island, leaving only half of it intact. Then, they left. With his island colonization experiments, Daniel Simberloff pioneered the field of island biogeography, trying to understand how species colonize new habitat, and why some populations reach equilibrium while others go extinct.

Additional resources:
A song about the theory of island biogeography
Background information about island biogeography
Paper on the defaunation and monitoring techniques used by Wilson and Simberloff
Paper on the colonization experiments first carried out by Simberloff and Wilson
Paper on the colonization model developed by Simberloff

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