The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited. 2009. b/w figs. illus. tabs. XVI, 476 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

Also available in hardcover. -Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson's Theory of Island Biogeography, first published by Princeton in 1967, is one of the mostinfluential books on ecology and evolution to appear in the past half century. By developing a general mathematical theory to explain a crucial ecological problem, the regulation of species diversity in island populations, the book transformed the science of biogeography and ecology as a whole. In the book, the authors assess the continuing impact of MacArthur and Wilson's book four decades after its publication. Following an opening chapter in which the Wilson reflects on island biogeography in the 1960s, fifteen chapters evaluate and demonstrate how the field has extended and confirmed, as well as challenged and modified, MacArthur and Wilson's original ideas. Providing a broad picture of the fundamental ways in which the science of island biogeography has been shaped, the book also points the way toward future research.