ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2020
Wind plays a major but not exclusive role in the prevalence of insect flight loss on remote islands.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reproductive strategies of the most geographically isolated Trachylepis support predictions of the island syndrome.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Island Syndrome in the Critically Endangered Lord Howe Island CockroachEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Effects of diet quality on the musculoskeletal system of the masticatory apparatus in Mus musculus domesticus.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Comparative Patterns of Sex Expression and Sex Ratios in Island and Continental Bryophyte Populations.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Do It Well or Not at All: Alternative Flight Solutions for Alpine Insects.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Insect Flight: State of the Field and Future Directions.Integrative and comparative biology · 2024Article
- Reproductive biology of Hawaiian lava crickets.Current research in insect science · 2024Article
- Key questions on the evolution and biogeography of New Zealand alpine insects.Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand · 2024Review
- Strong attachment as an adaptation of flightless weevils on windy oceanic islands.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
- Phasmid species that inhabit colder environments are less likely to have the ability to fly.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Rapid adaptation in a fast-changing world: Emerging insights from insect genomics.Global change biology · 2023Review
- Description of the female ofZooKeys · 2023Article
- Testing alternative hypotheses on the origin and speciation of Hawaiian katydids.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Dispersal ability and its consequences for population genetic differentiation and diversification.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Anthropogenic evolution in an insect wing polymorphism following widespread deforestation.Biology letters · 2021Article
- Northward geographic diversification of a kleptoparasitic spiderEcology and evolution · 2021Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Terrestrial species on islands often show reduced dispersal abilities. For insects, the generality of explanations for island flight loss remains contentious. Although habitat stability is considered the most plausible explanation, others are frequently highlighted. Adopting a strong inference approach, we examined the hypotheses proposed to account for the prevalence of flightlessness in island insect assemblages, for a region long suspected to be globally unusual in this regard-the Southern Ocean Islands (SOIs). Combining comprehensive faunal inventories, species' morphological information, and environmental variables from 28 SOIs, we provide the first quantitative evidence that flightlessness is exceptionally prevalent among indigenous SOI insect species (47%). Prevalence among species which have evolved elsewhere is much lower: Arctic island species (8%), species introduced to the SOIs (17%), and globally (estimated as approx. 5%). Variation in numbers of flightless species and genera across islands is best explained by variation in wind speed, although habitat stability (thermal seasonality proxy) may play a role. Variables associated with insularity, such as island size, are generally poor predictors of flightlessness. The outcomes redirect attention to Darwin's wind hypothesis. They suggest, however, that wind selects for flightlessness through an energy trade-off between flight and reproduction, instead of by displacement from suitable habitats.
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