An island ecology For early biologists, a large isolated island cut off by the sea usually promised a wealth of previously undiscovered natural organisms, because in the course of long isolation from the continents, its creatures were likely to have developed unique variations, becoming endemic species of the locality.
對早期的科學家而言，一座被海水隔絕、孤離的大島嶼，往往意味著那裡可能棲息著尚未被發現的自然生物，因為生物經過長時間與大陸隔離，容易發展出特有的變異，成為當地的特有種。