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RESEARCH

La biodiversidad insular está en peligro – advertência de la comunidade cientifica a los poderes públicos

Fernández-Palacios, J.M., Kreft, H., Irl, S.D., Norder, S., Ah-Peng, C., Borges, P.A.V., Burns, K.C., de Nascimento, L., Meyer, J.-Y., Montes, E. & Drake, D.R. (2023) La biodiversidad insular está en peligro – advertência de la comunidade cientifica a los poderes públicos. El Indiferente, 24, 101-205.

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  • Aug, 2023

Summary

Despite islands contributing only 6.7% of land surface, they harbor one fifth of the Earth’s biodiversity, but unfortunately also half of the threatened species and three quarters of the known extinctions since the European expansion. Due to their geological and geographic characteristics, islands act simultaneously as cradles of evolution and museums of formerly widespread lineages permitting islands an outstanding endemicity. Nevertheless, the majority of these species are vulnerable due to the way islands are colonized. Here we analyze the natural vulnerability of the insular biota, linked to founder events and small population sizes as well as the emergence of syndromes, which although improving the ability of species to thrive on islands, have made island biota vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures. Actually, this vulnerability has produced the documented extinction of at least 800 species since the European expansion, in addition to many more following the arrival of first human colonists in prehistoric times.