Description
Islands represent unique opportunities to examine human interaction with the natural environment. They capture the human imagination as remote, vulnerable and exotic, yet there is comparatively little understanding of their basic geology, geography, or the impact of island colonization by plants, animals and humans. This detailed study of island environments focuses on nine island groups, including Hawaii, New Zealand and the British Isles, exploring their differing geology, geography, climate and soils, as well as the varying effects of human actions. It illustrates the natural and anthropogenic disturbances common to island groups, all of which face an uncertain future clouded by extinctions of endemic flora and fauna, growing populations of invasive species, and burgeoning resident and tourist populations. Examining the natural and human history of each island group from early settlement onwards, the book provides a critique of the concept of sustainable growth and offers realistic guidelines for future island management.
Chapter
2.1 Isolation and finiteness
2.2.2 Continental islands and land bridges
2.2.3 Continental fragments
2.2.5 Anthropogenic islands
2.4.5 Climate measurement and integration
2.5.1 Geological substrate
2.5.2 Topographical influences
2.5.3 Climatic influences
2.5.4 Biological influences
3 Natural disturbances on islands
3.1 Disturbance characteristics
3.2.1 Characteristics and examples
3.2.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.3.1 Characteristics and examples
3.3.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.4.1 Characteristics and examples
3.4.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.5.1 Characteristics and examples
3.5.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.6.1 Characteristics and examples
3.6.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.7.1 Characteristics and examples
3.7.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.8.1 Characteristics and examples
3.8.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.9.1 Characteristics and examples
3.9.2 Ecological effects and responses
3.10.1 Characteristics and examples
3.10.2 Ecological effects and responses
4 The plants and animals of islands
4.2 How islands gain their plants and animals
Dispersal along land bridges and by floating
4.2.2 Past land connections
4.3 Evolution of new species
4.3.3 Size and topography
4.3.4 Biological features
4.4 Special features of plant and animal communities
4.4.2 Diverse but related species
4.4.3 Unusual life forms and behaviors
4.4.4 Strong connections between land and sea
4.5 Extinction on islands
4.5.1 Extinction as an evolutionary process
5 Human dispersal, colonization, and early environmental impacts
5.3 Japan’s first settlers
5.4 Settling puerto rico and jamaica
5.5. The first canary islanders
5.6 Early polynesia – the settlement of tonga
5.7 Reaching the edges of polynesia – the discovery and settlement of hawai‘i
5.8 Settling the largest islands of polynesia – reaching aotearoa (new zealand)
5.9 Colonizing iceland – the norse outpost
6 Intensifying human impacts on islands
6.2 Deforestation of the british isles and their conversion to agriculture
6.3 Japan: a civilization founded on rice cultivation and forest management
6.4 Canary islands: from self-sufficiency to trading post and cash crops
6.5 Puerto rico and jamaica: conquest, slavery, and crops for empires
6.6 Polynesian islands, european agriculture, and ecological transformation
6.6.1 The colonial transformation of New Zealand’s environment
6.6.2 Hawai‘i joins the global markets
6.6.3 Tonga retains local control of land
6.7 Iceland finds a path forward after environmental degradation
7 Islands in the modern world, 1950–2000
7.2 State of the environment in 1950
7.3.3 Extractive industries
7.3.4 Military activities
7.4.2 Remittance cultures
7.6.2 Novel biological communities
7.7.3 Environmental limits imposed on humans by island ecosystems
7.8 State of the environment in 2000
8 The future of island ecosystems: remoteness lost
8.3.2 Sea level and acidity
8.3.5 Tourism and the carbon cost of travel
8.4.1 Local production and consumption
8.4.3 Living with invasive species
8.5 Broader implications for the island groups
8.5.1 Application to other islands
Island Environments in a Changing World
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