Episode 156

Island Laboratories

The wonderful thing about islands is that they continue to provide insights into the processes that shape life on Earth. They remind us of life’s incredible adaptability and the importance of preserving these unique ecosystems. They demonstrate how isolation, limited resources, and unique environmental pressures can drive the evolution of extraordinary adaptations.

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Works Cited

  • “BBC Four – Nature’s Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution.” BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yjly5.
  • Butler, Rhett. “The Unruly Evolution of Island Life.” Mongabay Environmental News, 9 Nov. 2010, news.mongabay.com/2010/11/the-unruly-evolution-of-island-life.
  • Foster, J. Bristol. “Evolution of Mammals on Islands.” Nature, vol. 202, no. 4929, Apr. 1964, pp. 234–35. https://doi.org/10.1038/202234a0.
  • “Islands Spark Accelerated Evolution.” PMC – Pub Med Central, 12 Sept. 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1563487. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.
  • Meiri, Shai, et al. “Slaying Dragons: Limited Evidence for Unusual Body Size Evolution on Islands.” Journal of Biogeography, vol. 38, no. 1, Sept. 2010, pp. 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2010.02390.x.
  • Millien, Virginie. “Morphological Evolution Is Accelerated Among Island Mammals.” PLoS Biology, vol. 4, no. 10, Sept. 2006, p. e321. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040321.
  • National Science Foundation. “Islands Are Cauldrons of Evolution.” NSF – National Science Foundation, 14 June 2022, new.nsf.gov/news/islands-are-cauldrons-evolution.
  • Wikipedia contributors. “Foster’s Rule.” Wikipedia, 15 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster%27s_rule.

Music in this Episode

  • Ghost by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
  • Firefly by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
  • Kitten by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com