Species diversity and endemism of five major Malesian Islands: diversity area relationships
2004
Roos, M.C.(National Herbarium Nederland, Universiteit Leiden branch, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden (The Netherlands))E-mail:[email protected]
Botanical diversity of five major islands of Malesia (Java, Sulawesi, Borneo, and New Guinea) has been analyzed and species richness and endemism of vascular plants have been correlated with the surface area of these islands. The five islands form a series of independent areas of increasing size suited for an analysis of the species-area relationship's at the regional scale. Estimations of total species numbers for these islands are presented based on extrapolation of all available Flora Malesiana information and recent checklists. All species taken together and those of families with even distribution throughout Malesia show significant species-area relationships. Non-significant relationships were detected in families with Western or Eastern-centered Malesian distribution patterns. Relationships between number of endemic species and surface area are significant for all species and for the majority of the families with significant species-area relationships. Island surface area appears to be a predictor for island percent endemism in Malesia vascular plants. None of the islands appears to be a hotspot of endemism, nor of species diversity as they fit the Arrhenius model.
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