title: Island biogeography of the Anthropocene.
abstract: For centuries, biogeographers have examined the factors that produce patterns of biodiversity across regions. The study of islands has proved particularly fruitful and has led to the theory that geographic area and isolation influence species colonization, extinction and speciation such that larger islands have more species and isolated islands have fewer species (that is, positive species-area and negative species-isolation relationships). However, experimental tests of this theory have been limited, owing to the difficulty in experimental manipulation of islands at the scales at which speciation and long-distance colonization are relevant. Here we have used the human-aided transport of exotic anole lizards among Caribbean islands as such a test at an appropriate scale. In accord with theory, as anole colonizations have increased, islands impoverished in native species have gained the most exotic species, the past influence of speciation on island biogeography has been obscured, and the species-area relationship has strengthened while the species-isolation relationship has weakened. Moreover, anole biogeography increasingly reflects anthropogenic rather than geographic processes. Unlike the island biogeography of the past that was determined by geographic area and isolation, in the Anthropocene--an epoch proposed for the present time interval--island biogeography is dominated by the economic isolation of human populations.
authors.affiliation: Amsterdam Global Change Institute, Department of Animal Ecology, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Helmus
authors.affiliation: Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: D Luke
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Mahler
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Losos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003132:Commerce / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005843:Geography; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006802:Human Activities / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D058865:Introduced Species / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D062312:Islands; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D018803:Models, Economic; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014900:West Indies