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Biodiversity theory backed by island bird data

Analysis of a unique global data set reveals how the species diversity of birds is affected by the properties of archipelagos and offers a way to test an influential theory. Has this improved our understanding of island biodiversity patterns?
  1. Kostas A. Triantis

    1. Kostas A. Triantis is in the Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens GR-15784, Greece.

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  2. Thomas J. Matthews

    1. Thomas J. Matthews is at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and at the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

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The thousands of islands in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey have inspired countless myths and works of literature. This region is also where the word archipelago, which means a group of islands, has its roots. Archipelagos and their constituent islands have long been viewed as natural ‘laboratories’ for developing and testing theories that aim to answer key questions about biodiversity1–5. Writing in Nature, Valente et al.6 report an impressive analysis of birds on archipelagos worldwide that provides some of these long-awaited answers.

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Nature 579, 36-37 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00426-5

References

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