AÇOREANA, 2011, Suplemento 7: 93-123 PATTERNS OF COLONIZATION AND SPECIES DISTRIBUTION FOR AZOREAN ARTHROPODS: EVOLUTION, DIVERSITY, RARITY AND EXTINCTION Paulo A.V. Borges1, Clara Gaspar1, Ana M.C. Santos1, Sérvio Pontes Ribeiro1,2, Pedro Cardoso1,3, Kostas A. Triantis1,4 & Isabel R. Amorim1,5 1 Azorean Biodiversity Group (CITA-A), Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade dos Açores, Pico da Urze, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Biológicas, Lab. Ecologia Evolutiva de Herbívoros de Dossel/DEBIO, campus Morro do Cruzeiro, 35400-000, Ouro Preto, MG, Brasil 3Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA Department of Biology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA 4Biodiversity Research Group, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK 5School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, England, UK ABSTRACT Here we address a list of questions based on long-term ecological and biogeographical studies performed in the Azores, a remote volcanic oceanic archipelago composed by nine islands. The target group are the arthropods, and the main habitat the Laurisilva, the Azorean native forest. Diversification of Azorean arthropod species is affected by island age, area and isolation. However, results obtained for over a decade show that distinct groups are differently affected by these factors, which has lead to the extreme diverse distribution patterns currently observed. Spatial distribution of arthropods in each island may be interpreted as caused by a typical “mass effect”, with many species following a “source-sink” dynamics.