Meeting Abstract
In island biogeography, geographical attributes such as area, isolation, and age are known determinants of community diversity. Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO) located in southern Idaho contains multiple replicates of “island” habitats; that is patches of habitat separated from each other by less-hospitable terrain. The insular habitats in CRMO vary in area, isolation, and age and thus, make CRMO an ideal location for investigating questions of island biogeography in a continental context. Areas of recent geologic activity, such as CRMO, are excellent locations to investigate community assembly because ages of lava flows are known and age is an imperative attribute when testing hypotheses of island biogeography. The aim of this study is to understand how natural communities assemble on novel habitats and disassemble through time depending on geographical attributes. Our study focuses on the collection of spiders (Salticidae and Thomisidae) and plants to better understand the communities currently present on lava flows at CRMO. We quantified target lineage diversity across 20 transects established on four lava flows ranging in age (2,400-12,000 years old). We use these data to test for the role of age on the observed diversity and abundance of the target lineages to inform the community assembly process at CRMO.
