Biogeography of mammals on tropical Pacific islands
Carvajal A and Adler GH. 2005. Biogeography of mammals on tropical Pacific islands. Journal of Biogeography. 32(9):1561-1569
Examined the influence of geography on species richness and endemism of mammals on tropical Pacific archipelagos to determine the importance of intra- and inter-archipelago speciation in promoting local and regional species richness. A distributional list of mammals on 30 archipelagos was compiled, and values for 10 geographical variables were estimated for each archipelago. Mammal species were places in three different categories (continental, Pacific and endemic) based o their distribution. The total number of species and numbers of species within each category were related to the geographical variables using Poisson regression analysis. Species richness was related positively to variables describing land area, numbers of large islands and elevation; and negatively to variables describing isolation. Levels of endemism did not differ between volant and non-volant species, but differed between mega- and microchiropterans.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Carvajal, Alejandra; Adler, Gregory
- Units
- NPSA , PACN
- Keywords
- archipelagos, Bats, endemism, land biogeography, Mammals, marsupials, Rodents, Samoa, Species Richness