Multiple Source Pools and Dispersal Barriers for Galápagos Plant Species Distribution
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2000
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
J. Alan Yeakley and John F. Weishampel 2000. Multiple Source Pools and Dispersal Barriers for Galápagos Plant Species Distribution. Ecology 81:893–898.
Rights
This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the author.
Abstract
We reexamined geographic factors explaining the number of plant species on islands in the Galápagos Archipelago. We hypothesized that plant species richness (S) was related to the number of source pools and that plant species dispersal preferentially followed direct, oceanic pathways. To test different dispersal pathways from multiple source pools, the total number of islands within a given dispersal radius (i) was posed as the sum of the number of line-of-sight islands (Cᵢ) and of the number of islands without line-of-sight connection (Bᵢ). In partial regression analyses, controlling for nearest island area (A₂) and for recipient island elevation (E) and area (lnA), Cᵢ and Cᵢ × E were found to be positively correlated with S in the Galápagos for nearly all dispersal ranges from 10 km to 419 km (maximum inter-island separation). In contrast, Bᵢ × E was negatively correlated with S at the longest dispersal ranges. The connectivity index, Cᵢ, multiplied by elevation, E, explained more variation in S in the Galápagos than prior regression models using additive forms of E, lnA, A₂, and isolation from the central island. Using the variables Cᵢ × E and lnA, multiple-regression models explained >90% of the variance in both endemic and total plant species richness in the Galápagos Archipelago.