Some of the most important insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes of diversification and speciation have come from studies of island adaptive radiations, yet relatively little research has examined how these radiations initiate. We suggest that
Oceanic islands are known as test tubes of evolution. Isolated and colonized by relatively few species, islands are home to many of nature’s most renowned radiations from the finches of the Galápagos to the silverswords of the Hawaiian Islands. Despite the evolutionary exuberance of insular life, island occupation has long been thought to be irreversible. In particular, the presumed much tougher competitive and predatory milieu in continental settings prevents colonization, much less evolutionary diversification, from islands back to mainlands. To test these predictions, we examined the ecological and morphological diversity of neotropical
- Award ID(s):
- 1835893
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10307901
- Publisher / Repository:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Volume:
- 118
- Issue:
- 42
- ISSN:
- 0027-8424
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. e2024451118
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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