Microcosms

Isolated environments provide both benefits and pitfalls:
  • fewer predators
  • less competition; reduced interchange
  • resident species can lose natural defense mechanisms
  • smaller population
  • less genetic variety
Isle d'Entree

Isle d'Entreé, Les Isles-de-la-Madeleine

Islands can be
continental
"close" to the main continent on the continental shelf. These have usually been connected at some time in the past to the mainland due to variations in sea level over geological time.
oceanic
in the open ocean. These are more isolated and are less likely to have been colonized originally by species which cannot fly or float.
A sudden introduction of a new species into an island habitat can have catastrophic effects.

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