300015 VO Island biology Biogeography (2011W)

Islands are the field laboratories for evolutionists. The lecture will lead you through facts and patterns of distribution of species and evolutionary processes on islands. Natural and sexual selection, drift and gene flow, adaptive radiation, hybridisation and maintenance of polymorphism will be discussed to understand the evolution of genetic, morphological and behavioural traits on islands, which are the hotspots of biodiversity worldwide.
I will give many examples and the lecture will cover the following topics 1) theory of island biogeography, 2) population dynamics on islands, 3) speciation, 4) extinction, 5) human impact on island systems, 6) habitat degradation, invasive species and 7) island theory/conservation.