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The Song of the Dodo
Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
David Quammen uses islands—both literal and ecological—to explain how species originate, spread, persist, and disappear. Moving between evolutionary history, field reporting, scientific biography, and conservation debates, he traces island biogeography from the observations of nineteenth-century naturalists to the mathematical theories and reserve-design controversies of the twentieth century. Alfred Russel Wallace occupies a central place in this history, while later figures such as Robert MacArthur, Edward O. Wilson, Daniel Simberloff, and Jared Diamond show how island patterns became a framework for modern ecology. The book’s crucial shift is from oceanic islands to fragmented continents: forests, parks, and reserves surrounded by altered land can function as ecological islands. Their isolated populations become vulnerable to genetic decline, demographic accidents, invasive species, and habitat disruption. Expansive and cautionary, the book connects the intellectual history of evol…