Biogeography and ecology of atoll plants

Lee, M.A.B.

doi:10.1177/030913338400800402

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Mid-Pacific atolls are extremely suitable for testing island biogeographic theories because of their distance from mainland source regions and the range of island sizes around the atoll rim (Sachet 1967;Lee 1984). Such atolls have floras which, on account of restricted topography and substrate characteristics, are relatively small and much more uniform than on neighbouring high islands (Fosberg 1953(Fosberg , 1960(Fosberg , 1975a(Fosberg , 1984.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vascular plant species‐area relationships on Nui Atoll, Tuvalu, Central Pacific: a reassessment of the small island effect

Woodroffe¹

1986

Australian Journal of Ecology

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NuiAtolt, an isotated atoll in Tuvalu, has a total vascular flora of 86 species, including a large number of introduced species. If only the 44 species considered indigenous are examined, there exists a strong linear relationship (T^ = 0.94) between the total number of species and the logarithm of island area, over the entire wide range of island sizes from 0.01 ha to 138 ha. This relationship is strong for both tree species and herb species, but weak for shrub species for which there is a limited pool of potential colonists. This relationship is stronger than on other Pacific atolls and does not support the existence of a 'small island effect'. The strong linear relationship on Nui is attributed to uniformity of reef island substrate, distribution and isodimensionality of reef islands, stability of islands and infrequency of catastrophic events and the absence of large monospecific stands, especially of shrub species, characteristic of drier atolts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vascular plant species‐area relationships on Nui Atoll, Tuvalu, Central Pacific: a reassessment of the small island effect

Woodroffe¹

1986

Australian Journal of Ecology

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“…Similarly, natural environmental gradients across an atoll landscape are potentially further contributing to within-atoll community dissimilarity in vascular plant assemblages (Lee, 1984).…”

Section: Ta B L Ementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout the Indo-Pacific oceanic basin, atolls are at least as common and numerous as high volcanic islands, but compared to high islands, the low-lying and small atoll islets have low levels of endemism and relatively depauperate floras and faunas (Nunn et al, 2016). Nevertheless, most atolls fall within one of the global biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al, 2000), and their islets house breeding colonies of global significance for various tropical seabird species (Berr et al, 2023), and other emblematic Pacific Island species (Lee, 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beta‐diversity within coral atolls: Terrestrial species turnover increases with cyclone frequencies

Steibl,

Russell

2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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AimAtolls are a widely distributed, common type of tropical ecosystem, each consisting of an annular coral reef and up to several hundred individual islets sitting on the reef platform. The small land areas and low elevation render the terrestrial communities susceptible to local extinctions from overwash and inundation due to tropical cyclones. Such recurring catastrophic disturbances should be expected to drive strong priority effects and historical contingency in species assembly, thus also promoting species turnover within atolls. This stands contradictory to the received wisdom of atolls consisting of numerous uniform, replicated island systems. We tested the hypothesis that the individual islets within an atoll exhibit compositional turnover and that this species turnover within atolls is related to cyclone frequency.LocationAtolls worldwide.Time PeriodPresent.Taxa StudiedVascular plants, reptiles, birds.MethodsWe compiled a global dataset at the level of islets for species presence/absence within atolls. We obtained long‐term (80 year) tropical cyclone frequency data for each atoll from the NOAA hurricane database and used Bayesian regression to estimate the effects of tropical cyclone frequency on species turnover within atolls.ResultsWe consistently measured high within‐atoll species turnover (i.e., between the individual islets within an atoll) on atolls worldwide. The degree of within‐atoll species turnover increases with increasing tropical cyclone frequency. Atolls that are more frequently hit by tropical cyclones show higher species turnover between their islets than those that occur outside the tropical cyclone belt.Main ConclusionsTropical cyclones are a significant driver of the community assemblages on atolls. These catastrophic disturbances promote a heterogenous atoll landscape, which challenges perceptions that the islets within an atoll are identical replicates of the entire atoll terrestrial community. Biodiversity surveys undertaken at the islet‐level (alpha‐diversity) might therefore not be representative of the entire atoll metacommunity (gamma) diversity.

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“…The size and depth of freshwater lenses are directly related to the size of the islet. While there does not appear to be any clear delineation of minimum size (as reviewed in Lee, 1984), Underwood and others (1992) modeled recharge rates of freshwater lenses and found that, under the assumption that a minimum threshold thickness of 2-3 m is required to maintain a developable lens, 250 m (the smallest width tested) would be the minimum island width necessary to support freshwater lens dynamics. More recently Bailey and others (2009) used the most inclusive conceptual model available (Ayers and Vacher, 1986) to model atoll freshwater lens response to climatic factors and geologic variables.…”

Section: Groundwatermentioning

confidence: 99%