Island Ecosystems

About this quiz

In the vast expanse of the world's oceans, islands act as entirely isolated, perfectly contained natural laboratories for the chaotic forces of biological evolution. Because these terrestrial fragments are completely cut off from the massive genetic mixing and fierce, continuous competition found on major continental landmasses, the plants and animals that manage to wash ashore (or are blown in by storms) are forced to evolve in incredibly strange, deeply specialized, and entirely unique ways. This extreme geographical isolation is the primary engine behind 'endemism'—the biological phenomenon where a specific species is found exclusively in one single location on Earth and absolutely nowhere else. It was by carefully observing the bizarre, highly adapted finches and giant tortoises of the profoundly isolated Galápagos Islands that Charles Darwin finally crystallized his revolutionary theory of natural selection. In these unique island ecosystems, normal evolutionary rules are frequently inverted. Without the constant, terrifying threat of large mainland predators, bird species like the famous Dodo and the Kiwi slowly abandoned the massive energy required for flight, becoming entirely terrestrial. Meanwhile, small rodents frequently evolve to enormous sizes to fill vacant ecological niches, while normally large mammals dwarf in size due to limited island resources. From the alien-looking Dragon's Blood trees of Socotra to the incredible diversity of lemurs found only on Madagascar, this quiz will rigorously test your knowledge of the bizarre, beautiful, and highly fragile nature of island ecosystems.