SMALL ISLAND

ECOSYSTEMS
Ekologi laut tropis 2015
TIM EKOLA
INTRODUCTION
Island communities have served as the natural laboratories for the
development and testing of ecological theories.
Islands also provide the opportunity to determine whether there are
differences in the ecological processes that structure mainland and isolated
communities.
HISTORY
 The islands of the Pacific and East Indies made an enormous and fateful
impact on the minds of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace

 In 1967, ecologists Robert MacArthur and E.O. Wilson, coined the Theory of

Island Biogeography. This theory attempted to predict the number of species
that would exist on a newly created island
ISLAND ECOSYSTEM
 Fast Fact (UNEP, 2010)

 Islands cover about 3% of the world’s surface yet harbour a disproportional

amount of biodiversity, and endemic species in particular.
 12 of the 18 centres of marine endemism are around islands

 Seven of the 10 coral reef hotspots surround islands

 Over 90% of Hawaiian species are endemic

THE THEORY OF ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY
 determined by two factors. The first is
the effect of distance from
the mainland. The second is the
effect of island size.
 These two factors establish how
many species an island can hold at
equilibrium.
ISLAND FORMATION
 There are three types of islands:

 Islands that were originally part of a nearby continent, but were separated by
rising sea levels (land-bridge islands).
 Islands that are part of a volcanic island arc.
 Seamount chains which formed over geological “hotspots”.
The islands of Indonesia were once part of a larger land bridge.
Most of island arcs are formed as one oceanic tectonic
plate subducts another one

The Ryukyu Islands form an island arc.

The Hawaiian Islands have
formed as a plate passed over
a geological hot spot.
Land bridge islands begin with the species
complement to be expected of a mainland
area. Remember that this is typically more
species than would be expected on an island
of that size. So, over time, we expect the
number of species to diminish. This is
referred to as a relaxation fauna.
So we see a different pattern for the number of
species as a function of time for a:

land-bridge
island..

… or an oceanic
island.
ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES ON ISLANDS
 Colonization and establishment

 Adaptation

 Speciation

 Survival
Nature Provide the best experiment of colonization

Source : Island Ecology (Book)

 By Martyn Gorman
 ISLAND BIOTA
 There is no doubt that the
degree of isolation of an
island or island group is a
factor in determining the
biota that it will support.
Islands also show high endemicity.

All native land birds of the Hawaiian Islands are endemic.

Over 40% of plants on isolated oceanic islands are endemic.
 Cenderawasih Bay National Park story

 Cenderawasih Bay National Park,

Indonesia’s largest marine protected area,

• affected by 14 million years of tectonic

plate movement.

• Cenderawasih over time became more

Isolated

• Separated from their relatives’ gene pool,

Cenderawasih fish populations developed peculiar
traits
Selected marine biodiversity species counts for the
Bird’s Head Seascape as of mid-2011.
 Endemic Marine Species of the Bird’s Head Seascape

The Bird’s Head Seascape of West Papua is not only the

epicenter of marine biodiversity, it also appears
to function as a “species factory”.

Currently, there are at least 35 coral reef fish species believed to

be endemic to the
Bird’s Head, with an additional 5 to 40 endemic coral species
and 8 endemic mantis shrimp

Odontodactylus sp
 Adaptation and speciation of Endemic Marine Species of the Bird’s Head Seascape

Hemiscyllium galei Allen and Erdmann, 2008. Cenderawasih Bay

walking shark. Like its sister species in Raja Ampat and Triton Bay, this is a
nocturnal species found on shallow reefs and sea grass beds, where it uses its
pectoral and pelvic fins to “walk” across the bottom in search of prey. Known only from
Cenderawasih Bay.
 sources
Biodiversity, Species Interactions and Ecological Networks in a Fragmented World,
Advances in Ecological Research, Academic Press, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-396992-7.00002-2

http://birdsheadseascape.com/download/research/biodiversity/Endemics.pdf

Gorman, M. (2012). Island ecology. Springer Science & Business Media.