Islands are renowned for their extraordinary biota—inspiring biologists and providing key insights into evolution, biogeography, and ecology. As a result of the devastating effects of human colonization, island ecosystems face severe threats, and island conservation has become a vital international concern.
Scientists are generating data on the world’s islands at an unprecedented pace, and now is an opportune time to bring together island biologists from around the world to synthesize developments in the field that have arisen since the publication of the 20th century’s seminal works—MacArthur & Wilson’s Island Biogeography and Carlquist’s Island Biology—and to chart the future for the study and conservation of islands.
An international conference consisting of plenary lectures, symposia, contributed talks, and posters will examine a broad range of taxa, regions, and biological disciplines. This will be the first of a regular series of meetings that will be held every four years, on islands around the world, at which island biologists can come together, share insights, and develop collaborations that will accelerate the pace and effectiveness of island research and conservation.
Themes will include :
– Island biogeography: confronting theory with reality
– Island evolution: time for a data-driven synthesis across taxa and islands
– Island ecology: how do islands differ from continents, and from each other (and what do they have in common)?
– Island conservation: island biodiversity faces extraordinary threats, so how can we respond?
– Emerging topics: paleoecology, climate change, ecosystem services, novel ecosystems
