Slideshow 11 Flashcards
Island types and formations (4 types)
continental islands
island arcs
hotspot islands
terranes and accretion
Continental Islands - Origin
part of a continental landmass
Continental Islands - Formation
separated by rising ocean levels (ex: Newfoundland, PEI, British Isles)
separated by tectonic processes (ex: Madagascar, New Zealand)
Island Arcs - Origin
Volcanic activity
Island Arcs - Formation
Old ocean crust is subducted, causing stresses nearby on the overlying plate; volcanic eruptions build new islands that rise above the seafloor
Ex: Islands of Japan, Lesser Sunda Islands
Hotspot Islands and Seamounts - Origin
Fixed hotspots scattered throughout the Earth’s mantle (ex: Yellowstone national park, Hawaii, Iceland)
Hotspot Islands and Seamounts - Formation
Volcanoes rise from the seafloor; the plate moves; a series of islands is born
Erosion reduces islands to seamounts (guyots)
Formation of an Island chain
Erosin flattens the tops of the islands and seamounts
Seamounts are ‘islands’ of incredible biodiversity - poorly known, destroyed by deep sea trawling
Hotspot Islands and Seamounts - bend
The bend in the Emperor Seamount - Hawaiian Islands chain is suggested to be caused by a change in direction of the movement of the Pacific plate about 43 MYA
similar bends are seen in other pacific island chain
Pacific Islands - types
All 3 types
Continental - New Zealand, New Caledonia
Island Arc - the Aleutians, the Kuriles
Hotspot Islands - Taumato Ridge, Archipelago, Hawaiian Islands
Terranes
a small area where geology is different from surrounding regions
Accreted terrane
a landmass that originated as an island arc or a microcontinent that was later added onto a continent or other landmass
The nature of islands
- well defined boundaries
- relatively simple
- often relatively small
- often relatively isolated
- are numerous ( # of oceanic islands in the pacific > 20 000)
- Archipelagos - variations in size and degree of isolation amongst islands
- Broadly defined - include true islands, mountaintops, ponds, lakes, caves, oases, forest patches, natural and anthropogenic islands
Ecological Scale
unique properties of island biotas - based on biotic and abiotic challenges and interactions
island impoverishment and species area relationships
Evolutionary Scale
Islands and speciation - endemic species, archipelago speciation
The Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography (ETIB)
- role of rates of immigration and extinction in controlling species diversity
Unique properties of island biotas
Community composition - aspects of diversity
- ecological roles
- niche and breadth differentiation
- population densities
Body size
Growth form
Island community composition
Mix of species on islands is often different than the mix of species on the mainland
Often fewer species on islands than comparable mainland areas
Often the relative density of species on islands is higher than comparable mainland areas
Harmonic (balanced) species composition
similar to mainland composition
Disharmonic (unbalanced) species composition
different than mainland composition