Wind plays a major but not exclusive role in the prevalence of insect flight loss on remote islands.

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

SUBMITTER: Leihy RI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7739939 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature