Island Biogeography
One of the things that Sarah and I emphasized today is that Acadia National Park is almost all islands. We are on Big Moose Island here at SERC. In fact, the area where we will hike tomorrow is the only part of the Park that isn't an island.
Take a look at this article on "island biogeography." Island biogeography is a theory about biodiversity developed by one of the world's foremost biologists, E.O. Wilson.
After you read the article, try to answer some of the following questions:
-- Bill
Take a look at this article on "island biogeography." Island biogeography is a theory about biodiversity developed by one of the world's foremost biologists, E.O. Wilson.
After you read the article, try to answer some of the following questions:
- What does this have to do with Acadia National Park?
- Give an example of how island biogeography could affect the Schoodic part of Acadia, even though some of it isn't an island.
- Think about some of the "megafauna" that people come to Acadia to see -- moose, bears, and so on. How does E.O. Wilson's theory connect to the Park's mission to conserve such species?
-- Bill
6 Comments:
This has to deal with the problems that acadia deals with every day. Species in Schoodic Peninsula would have more compared to the Mount Desert Island. Schoodic Wouldn't have island biogeography because nothing is really separating it from the main land area. But there is the problem of humans breaking the habitats of the large animals. The park's goal is to save nature from being developed. It is trying to save these areas. The theory is the idea about how there is an ecological decay the park is trying to stop this decay(Please Correct any mistake you see thank you)
By Ian Macomber, At January 9, 2007 7:55 PM
First of all, Acadia National Park is an excellent example of the "islands" this article is talking about with reference to the kind of environment the parks are set in. This being a less rural one. That is, national parks tend to try to preserve wilderness (nature in its most wild, untouched, and pristine form) but they are often locked in by, if not urban areas, at least land where human development is evident and wilderness is less likely to be preserved.
The concept of island biogeography with reference to the Schoodic area is interesting because it's separated from MDI, the primary location of Acadia National Park. This means that there is a chance for the existence of a higher diversity of organisms since Schoodic is on the mainland. According to the theory of island biogeography, an island's biodiversity is directly impacted by its distance from the mainland, so, MDI's, being an island, biodiversity is directly related to Schoodic's biodiversity. Further, species on MDI have the opportunity to go through adaptive radiation, so there may be variations of species on the island. Most likely, Schoodic has greater biodiversity than MDI simply because it's part of the mainland; this means that species need not swim, fly, or be relocated by humans in order to find themselves in the Park.
The park's mission to save species, in reference to E.O. Wilson's theory-
It seems to me that while parks try to conserve as much land as they can, according to this article, parks, in reality, continue to be island havens for our efforts to preserve wilderness. Even these efforts are, in many ways, foiled simply because the of wide stretch of both air and water pollutants. Further, relative rarity describes the needs of larger animals in that they need more hectares to live on in order to feed themselves or for whatever other survival reason. Though parks provide this opportunity, the limited islands of space in parks does not provide top carnivores with the needed range in some cases. The examples I'm thinking of right now aren't here in Maine (Florida panthers, jaguars), but I'm kind of guessing this park is no exception. I might be wrong. HOWEVER the fact that the park owns multiple plots on multiple islands DOES suggest that the biodiversity of the park as a whole is way way way up since it is primarily islands. The question is, how stable is the biodiversity on these islands?
By Natalie Jimenez, At January 9, 2007 8:00 PM
Although Schoodic is not actually an island, it can have some forms of island biogeography. It does share its land with part of a larger island, but it is an island nonetheless. So, where as it is a large island, of course it would make it easier to preserve wildlife, but Schoodic is only a very small portion of this large island so it could be faced with problems if a certain species is not very widespread throughout the large land mass Schoodic belongs to.
By Rhyan Ahearn, At January 9, 2007 8:01 PM
Good responses.
Think about that chunk of private land to the north of the Park that we looked at from the top of Schoodic Head.
That private land is more than 3500 acres and stretches from the northern edge of the Park's Schoodic district, across Route 186, and way North beyond that. It is actually more land than we have here in this part of the Park.
Does the theory of island biogeography tell us anything about the potential impacts of development of this property?
-- bill
By Bill Zoellick, At January 10, 2007 9:03 AM
This post has been removed by the author.
By Natalie Jimenez, At January 11, 2007 7:29 PM
The last time I posted here I said, "relative rarity describes the needs of larger animals in that they need more hectares to live on in order to feed themselves or for whatever other survival reason. Though parks provide this opportunity, the limited islands of space in parks does not provide top carnivores with the needed range in some cases. The examples I'm thinking of right now aren't here in Maine (Florida panthers, jaguars), but I'm kind of guessing this park is no exception."
What I was thinking of when I wrote this was of land on the outside of park boundaries and how they limit wildlife's ability to continue their lives as normal if at all. Not only does a dramatic change in the topography of a boundary change the lifestyle of wildlife, but it also increases the edge effect I mentioned today during my group's proposal on the park. It would greatly limit the park’s conservation ability.
By Natalie Jimenez, At January 11, 2007 7:31 PM
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