Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1975

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

The distribution of orchid species on nineteen islands of the Greater and Lesser Antilles is listed. These data are used to test hypotheses inferred from the MacArthur and Wilson (1967) theory of island biogeography. Linear regressions show that the slope of the species area curve for orchids on these islands is not different from the range 0.20 to 0.35 predicted in the theory. The slope of this line increases with distance from Central America, the suspected source of colonizing species. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the relationship of the total number of species, the number of endemics, and the number of non-endemics with the geographic parameters of area, altitude, distances from Central and South America, and inter-island isolation. The validity of the theory and the biological implications of the geographic parameters are discussed.

Extent

98 p.

Comments

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1975.|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1975.

Identifier

FADT13709

Format

pdf

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