islands

The Midway Atoll is made of two small islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between the US and Asia.

And after the 2000 release of the film “The Beach,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, as many as 8,000 tourists a day made the pilgrimage to the tiny islands of Koh Phi Phi, where it was filmed.

Research from Washington University in St. Louis says that bird wing shape -- a proxy for long-distance flying ability -- is a trait that influences biodiversity patterns on islands around the world.

The influential biologists Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson coined the theory of island biogeography 50 years ago to help to explain patterns of species diversity on islands.

The theory relies on two main observations: first, more isolated islands have a lower number of species, because it is harder for species to reach them; and second, larger islands have a higher number of species, because they experience fewer extinctions.