Experimental Zoogeography of Islands. A Two‐Year Record of Colonization

Abstract

In 1966—1967 the entire arthropod faunas of six small mangrove islands in the Florida Keys were removed by methyl bromide fumigation. In earlier articles we described the process of recolonization through the first year, during which the numbers of species in five of the six faunas rose to what appear to be noninteractive equilibria and then slumped slightly to interactive equilibria. The sixth, that of island E1, we believe to be climbing more slowly because of its greater distance from the source area. It had not reached the predefaunation (interactive) equilibrium by 1 year. Here we give the results of censuses taken at the end of the second year on the four islands in the group located in the lower Keys (E1, E2, E3, ST2). The numbers of species were found to have changed little from the previous year, providing further evidence that they are in equilibrium. Species immigrations and extinctions have continued at a high rate, and the species compositions on three of the four islands appear to be moving slowly in the direction of the original, predefaunation states.