Hawaii. Photograph: © SAF
Excerpts;
Oceanic islands are born, they grow, they are eroded and they disappear beneath the sea. Throughout this process, which takes millions of years, the islands change form and therefore change their ‘tenants’.
The species adapt to the new environmental conditions, occupy empty niches, specialise and become exclusive. In the case of the youngest islands with high mountainous ecosystems, the endemic ecosystems increase…