Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

The influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition. 
The isotopic composition of the nitrogen in an animal reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of its diet. The δ^(15)N values of the whole bodies of animals are usually more positive than those of their diets. Different individuals of a species raised on the same diet can have significantly different δ^(15)N values. The variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different species raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets. Different tissues of mice are also enriched in ^(15)N relative to the diet, with the difference between the δ^(15)N values of a tissue and the diet depending on both the kind of tissue and the diet involved. The δ^(15)N values of collagen and chitin, biochemical components that are often preserved in fossil animal remains, are also related to the δ^(15)N value of the diet. 
The dependence of the δ^(15)N values of whole animals and their tissues and biochemical components on the δ^(15)N value of diet indicates that the isotopic composition of animal nitrogen can be used to obtain information about an animal's diet if its potential food sources had different δ^(15)N values. The nitrogen isotopic method of dietary analysis probably can be used to estimate the relative use of legumes vs non-legumes or of aquatic vs terrestrial organisms as food sources for extant and fossil animals. However, the method probably will not be applicable in those modern ecosystems in which the use of chemical fertilizers has influenced the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in food sources. 
The isotopic method of dietary analysis was used to reconstruct changes in the diet of the human population that occupied the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico over a 7000 yr span. Variations in the δ^(15)C and δ^(15)N values of bone collagen suggest that C_4 and/or CAM plants (presumably mostly corn) and legumes (presumably mostly beans) were introduced into the diet much earlier than suggested by conventional archaeological analysis.

Influence of Diet On the Distribtion of Nitrogen Isotopes in Animals

Bones of recent mammals in the Amboseli Basin, southern Kenya, exhibit distinctive weathering characteristics that can be related to the time since death and to the local conditions of temperature, humidity and soil chemistry. A categorization of weathering characteristics into six stages, recognizable on descriptive criteria, provides a basis for investigation of weathering rates and processes. The time necessary to achieve each successive weathering stage has been calibrated using known-age carcasses. Most bones decompose beyond recognition in 10 to 15 yr. Bones of animals under 100 kg and juveniles appear to weather more rapidly than bones of large animals or adults. Small-scale rather than widespread environmental factors seem to have greatest influence on weathering characteristics and rates. Bone weathering is potentially valuable as evidence for the period of time represented in recent or fossil bone assemblages, in- cluding those on archeological sites, and may also be an important tool in censusing populations of animals in modern ecosystems.

Taphonomic and Ecologic Information Form Bone Weathering

Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature brings to light the deep sense of crisis within the profession of academic philosophy which is similar to the paralyzing pluralism in contemporary theology and the inveterate indeterminacy of literary criticism. Richard Rorty's provocative and profound meditations impel philosophers to examine the problematic status of their discipline— only to discover that modern European philosophy has come to an end. Rorty strikes a deathblow to modern European philosophy by telling a story about the emergence, development and decline of its primary props: the correspondence theory of truth, the notion of privileged representations and the idea of a self-reflective transcendental subject. Rorty's fascinating tale—his-story —is regulated by three fundamental shifts which he delineates in detail and promotes in principle: the move toward anti-realism or conventionalism in ontology, the move toward the demythologizing of the Myth of the Given or anti-foundationalism in epistemology, and the move toward detranscendentalizing the subject or dismissing the mind as a sphere of inquiry. The chief importance of Rorty's book is that it brings together in an original and intelligible narrative the major insights of the patriarchs of postmodern American philosophy—W. V. Quine, Wilfred Sellars, and Nelson Goodman— and persuasively presents the radical consequences of their views for contemporary philosophy. Rorty credits Wittgenstein, Heidegger and Dewey for having "brought us into a period of 'revolutionary' philosophy" by undermining the prevailing Cartesian and Kantian paradigms and advancing new conceptions of philosophy. And these monumental figures surely inspire Rorty. Yet, Rorty's philosophical debts—the actual sources of his particular anti-Cartesian and antiKantian arguments—are Quine's holism, Sellars' anti-foundationalism, and Goodman's pluralism. In short, despite his adamant attack on analytical philosophy—the last stage of modern European philosophy—Rorty feels most comfortable with the analytical form of philosophical argumentation (shunned by Wittgenstein and Heidegger). From the disparate figures of Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Dewey, Rorty gets a historicist directive: to eschew the quest for certainty and the search for foundations.

Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature

Europe and the People without History

Question One The recency of detailed prehistoric archaeological research in the region compared to areas such as Europe and the Middle East is an oft-reported and laboured point. This does mean, however, that particular forms of analysis bearing on the prehistory of plant use which have been utilized extensively elsewhere are only now being or have yet to be applied in the area. While it is true that grain crops such as rice are easier to detect in the archaeological record than are the remains of tuberous crops, the search for the latter is by no means as hopeless a cause as has been assumed by various archaeologists. Much more research could be

Taro Cropping Systems in the Southeast Asian-Pacific Region: Archaeological Evidence

/pdf/a-previously-unreported-bronze-kettledrum-from-the-kai-4n306ae2uz.pdf

A previously unreported bronze kettledrum from the Kai Islands, Eastern Indonesia

/pdf/the-chronology-of-occupation-at-teouma-vanuatu-use-of-a-4d395q1zr2.pdf

The chronology of occupation at Teouma, Vanuatu: Use of a modified chronometric hygiene protocol and Bayesian modeling to evaluate midden remains

The human colonization of Near Oceania has an antiquity of over 40,000 years but colonization of Remote Oceania, including Vanuatu, did not begin until around 3200–3100 BP. Just before this time a distinctive form of dentate-stamped pottery known as the Lapita style appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago northeast of the island of New Guinea. The only direct evidence of health in these Remote Oceanic settlers is their skeletal remains, but until recently only small samples of late Lapita skeletons have been found. Here we report the preliminary findings on some aspects of health of the first large sample (36 individuals) of early Lapita-associated skeletons from Teouma, Vanuatu, dated to ca. 3100–3000 BP. Dental health, trauma and degeneration of joints show they were well adapted to the rigors of island life and lived a physically active life while coping with a significant disease burden. The discovery of skeletal remains of pioneer settlers on islands is extremely rare. The Teouma sample provide...

A Preliminary Report on Health and Disease in Early Lapita Skeletons, Vanuatu: Possible Biological Costs of Island Colonization

Faunal remains from archaeological sites on Buka, Nissan, and Tikopia Islands. Southwest Pacific include a number of taxa not previously recorded from those islands. These are Rattus praetor for both Nissan and Tikopia, and Thylogale brunii. Unicomys poneeleti. and Uromys salebrosus for Buka. R. praetor and T. brunii were probably introduced into the region by humans during the mid Holocene. Following the initial expansion in the ranges of these taxa, some island populations became extinct.

Matthew Spriggs

Papers

Taro Cropping Systems in the Southeast Asian-Pacific Region: Archaeological Evidence

A previously unreported bronze kettledrum from the Kai Islands, Eastern Indonesia

The chronology of occupation at Teouma, Vanuatu: Use of a modified chronometric hygiene protocol and Bayesian modeling to evaluate midden remains

A Preliminary Report on Health and Disease in Early Lapita Skeletons, Vanuatu: Possible Biological Costs of Island Colonization

Holocene mammal faunas from archaeological sites in island Melanesia