Abstract
The importance of island studies has been recognised by biologists for a considerable time and such studies have played a central role in the formulation of many evolutionary and ecological concepts. One needs to think only of the effect on Darwin of his Galapagos work to appreciate this. Their importance continues, and, with the modern application of mathematics to biology and because of the increasing degree of alteration by man of continental land masses, has even increased. In any event, the serious study of islands has attracted a large number of biologists and spans a large time interval (e.g. Wallace 1880, Carlquist 1965, Macarthur & Wilson 1967). Relative simplicity, discreteness, and a range of differences in such features as degree of isolation, size, and shape are among the more important ingredients of their attractivity.
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© 1974 Dr. W. Junk b.v., Publishers, The Hague
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Williams, W.D. (1974). Introduction. In: Williams, W.D. (eds) Biogeography and Ecology in Tasmania. Monographiae Biologicae, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2337-5_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2337-5_2
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