Oceanic islands and archipelagos are natural laboratories for investigating patterns and processes of evolution. Islands change with the course of time, resulting in a dynamic ontogeny over millions of years. The combined forces of tectonic plate subsidence and erosion from waves, wind, and rainwater bring about substantial geomorphological change over millions of years, until islands eventually disappear under the sea. Added to these long‐term natural changes to the environment of the islands are the changes caused by human activities in recent centuries. After humans reach a previously unpopulated island, they utilize the natural resources for their own survival, cutting forests for making houses, boats, and firewood. The size of the human population and the length of time on the island determine the degree of environmental impact. Evolutionary processes in plants of oceanic islands take place during ontogeny of the islands, resulting in population divergence, speciation, and hybridization. Due to the dramatic alterations suffered by many islands over millions of years, the present patterns of distribution and ecology of species within endemic groups may have little to do with the patterns when the species originated. Understanding these environmental changes is fundamental to infer a founder effect, reasons for levels of genetic variation within and among populations, and modes of speciation. Special caution must be exercised while making comparisons between groups located on islands of different geological ages and that have endured differing environmental modifications from humans. Examples are provided from the Juan Fernández Archipelago and Lord Howe Island.

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历史生态学对解释海洋岛屿植物进化过程的重要性

海洋岛屿和群岛是研究进化模式和过程的天然实验室。岛屿随着时间的推移而变化，导致数百万年的动态个体发育。板块下沉和海浪、风和雨水侵蚀的共同作用带来了数百万年的巨大地貌变化，直到岛屿最终消失在海底。除了这些岛屿环境的长期自然变化之外，还有近几个世纪人类活动引起的变化。人类到达以前无人居住的岛屿后，为了自己的生存利用自然资源，砍伐森林来建造房屋、船只和木柴。人口规模和在岛上的时间长短决定了对环境的影响程度。海洋岛屿植物的进化过程发生在岛屿的个体发育过程中，导致种群分化、物种形成和杂交。由于许多岛屿在数百万年间经历了巨大的变化，目前特有群体内物种的分布和生态模式可能与物种起源时的模式几乎没有关系。了解这些环境变化对于推断始祖效应、种群内和种群间遗传变异水平的原因以及物种形成模式至关重要。在对位于不同地质时代的岛屿上的群体进行比较时，必须特别小心，这些群体经历了人类不同的环境变化。示例来自胡安费尔南德斯群岛和豪勋爵岛。