Oops!! Please forgive me; I forgot my island biogeography. Thanks
for the correction Bob Taylor!
Generally, the size of the island affects the number of species that
are found on the island. The bigger the island, the more species can find
niches there (and the more endemics that will eventually evolve). But there
is also a distance effect. The farther the island is from a mainland the
fewer species will find the island (size is also important because bigger
islands are easier to find. For endemics, the farther the island is from
any other island or mainland, the more endemics there will be.
Montserrat is a small island in the Caribbean Sea surrounded by
other Caribbean islands so the number of endemics is probably small since it
would share its avifauna with other Caribbean islands. A similar sized
island isolated in a vast ocean would probably have more endemics. It is
also likely that some of the birds on Montserrat that are not endemic to the
island are endemic to the Caribbean.
As an aside, the James Bond that authored Birds of the West Indies
is the original James Bond. Ian Fleming named is famous spy after the
ornithologist. Ian Fleming spent much time in Jamaica as a youngster and
had a copy of Bond's book. James Bond, the ornithologist, often lamented
that he couldn't even make hotel reservations in his own name after
Fleming's books became popular.
Island Biogeography has also been used to look at habitat "islands"
caused by fragmentation of forests. However, it doesn't seem to work as
well for those "islands" as it does for oceanic islands or islands in the
sky. Apparently, the organisms, including birds, react differently to vast
stretches of sub-optimal habitat around forest fragments than vast stretches
of inhospitable, sometimes lethal habitat such as water or deserts.




At 13:43 1/10/97 -0700, you wrote:
>
>Back on 9/26/97 Deb Beutler responded to Ben & Peggi Rodgers posting of
>the events on Montserrat.
>
>I have heard nothing further about the volcanic eruptions on the island but
>am responding to the comments about the Montserrat Oriole and "Because
>Montserrat is an island, there are probably a large number of endemic birds".
>
>Actually, I thought that the Montserrat Oriole was the only endemic.
>Looking up the issue in Jame Bond's (who could dispute 007's opinions?), I
>verified that it is the only endemic that he recognized for Montserrat.
>Not satisfied, I checked a few other sources and have found nothing to
>refute that opinion. There are however a larger number of restricted range
>birds not limited to Montserrat that can be be (used to be???) seen there.
>
>I also checked in David Quammen's >The Song of the Dodo: Island
>Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions<. On page 388 is its only reference
>to Montserrat when it is used in a comparison of the Antillean islands of
>Cuba, Puerto Rico, Montserrat and Saba plus a hypothetical island. 40,000
>sq mi, 4,000 sq mi, 400 sq mi (the hypothetical isle), 40 sq mi
>(Montserrat) and 4 sq mi respectively. Birds were not compared for species
>diversity but rather amphibians and reptiles (a lot less mobile for
>dispersal than birds). The numbers (simplified) were 80, 40, unknown for
>the hypothetical isle, 9 and 5.
>
>While I am at it I will make a pitch for his (David Quammen's) book for
>anyone interested in natural history because 'island biogeography' is
>extremely pertinent to our interests in birds on other than water
>surrounded islands, ie., the islands in the sky of SE Arizona's
>Chiricahuas, etc. Not a fast read because of the amount to contemplate and
>absorb. Anyone else have an opinion on this book?? Anyone heading for the
>lands of Wallace, Darwin, and Madagascar and.... and.... and.... should at
>least skim it.
>
>Bob Taylor
>taylorrt at geocities.com
>
>

Deb Beutler
Department of Zoology
P.O. Box 644236
Washington State Univerisity
Pullman, Whitman Co., WA
dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu