IMAGE: A juvenile Brookesia micra standing on a human finger tip view more
Credit: Frank Glaw, Jörn Köhler, Ted M. Townsend, Miguel Vences, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
It is an old-standing theory in evolutionary ecology: animal species on islands have the tendency to become either giants or dwarfs in comparison to mainland relatives. Since its formulation in the 1960s, however, the island rule has been severely debated by scientists. In a new publication in
Nature Ecology and Evolution on April 15, researchers solved this debate by analysing thousands of vertebrate species. They show that the island rule effects are widespread in mammals, birds and reptiles, but less evident in amphibians.
Komodo dragons grew large on several Indonesian islands
Animals living on islands tend to evolve into either giants or dwarfs in relation to their continental ancestors, reveals a new study.
The analysis of more than a thousand land animal species shows that the so-called ‘island rule’ holds true for mammals, birds, reptiles, and, to a lesser extent, amphibians.
Most so-called ‘rules’ in evolution turn out to be fairly limited in their scope and predictive power. From that perspective our results are exciting. Dr Joseph Tobias
The research, published today in
Nature Ecology and Evolution, was carried out by a team of scientists based at several European institutions, including Imperial College London.