Distribution of native plants and birds on 27 remote Tuamotu atolls (South Pacific Ocean): a contribution to the Island species-area relationship

ABSTRACT

Island species-area relationship (ISAR) is the most documented pattern in island biogeography. Different hypotheses were advanced to explain this pattern. In this study, I selected 27 remote Tuamotu atolls in the South Pacific Ocean with complete surveys of native species richness of birds and vascular plants to test the influence of four abiotic predictors on species richness (atoll emerged area, habitat diversity, mean elevation, and number of islets). Linear regressions were used to assess the relative influence of predictors on native species richness while stepwise regression was then used to identify the best model. Atoll area was a significant predictor to explain native bird and plant species richness, attesting ISAR on the remote surveyed atolls. Stepwise model demonstrated that both habitat diversity and atoll area explained bird species richness, whereas atoll area and mean elevation were the best predictors for native plants. These results suggest that ISAR can be related to different hypotheses, depending on the taxon studied. Among hypotheses, the simple “target-area” hypothesis was a suitable framework to explain ISAR of native birds, while the “disturbance” hypothesis was relevant to support ISAR of native plants observed on the atolls.

KEYWORDS:

• Island biogeography
• native species richness
• coral islands
• cyclonic waves
• abiotic predictors

Acknowledgments

The idea of the paper was initiated during some field trips in French Polynesia. I thank the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme du Pacifique (MSHP-USR 2003, Tahiti, French Polynesia) and the University of French Polynesia (Tahiti, French Polynesia) for their logistic support during these field trips. Special thanks to Dr Jean-François Butaud (consultant in Forestry and Polynesian botany, Papeete, French Polynesia) for checking a part of the plant database and additional update about the biogeographical status of species. I thank the Associate Editor Charles Lafon and the two anonymous reviewers for their additional corrections and comments improving the scientific quality of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data compilation and species used in this study is provided in the paper. Detail of native birds are also available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/country/french-polynesia (BirdLife International, 2022) and https://inpn.mnhn.fr (MNHN & OFB. 2003–2024). Detail of native plants on the atolls are also available at: https://www.service-public.pf/diren/partager/guides-floristiques/(Butaud, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c; Butaud & Jacq, 2009), and both database http://nadeaud.ilm.pf (Chevillotte et al., 2019) and https://inpn.mnhn.fr (MNHN & OFB. 2003–2024).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02723646.2024.2361990

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de Clermont-Ferrand (USR 3550, Clermont-Ferrand, France) and the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France.