the area curve. This function can also be expressed as a logarithmic function: This expression of the function allows for the function to be drawn as a linear function. However, the core meaning of the function is the same: the area of the island dictates the species area relationship. Historical record The theory can be studied through the fossils, which provide a record of life on Earth. 300 million years ago, Europe and North America lay on the equator and were covered by steamy tropical rainforests. Climate change devastated these tropical rainforests during the Carboniferous Period and as the climate grew drier, rainforests fragmented. Shrunken islands of forest were uninhabitable for amphibians but were well suited to reptiles, which became more diverse and even varied their diet in the rapidly changing environment; this Carboniferous rainforest collapse event triggered an evolutionary burst among reptiles. Research experiments The theory of island biogeography was experimentally tested by E. O. Wilson and his student Daniel Simberloff in the mangrove islands in the Florida Keys. Species richness on several small mangroves islands were surveyed. The islands were fumigated with methyl bromide to clear their arthropod communities. Following fumigation, the immigration of species onto the islands was monitored. Within a year the islands had been recolonized to pre-fumigation levels. However, Simberloff and Wilson contended this final species richness was oscillating in quasi-equilibrium. Islands closer to the mainland recovered faster as predicted by the Theory of Island Biogeography. The effect of island size was not tested, since all islands were of approximately equal size. Research conducted at the rainforest research station on Barro Colorado Island has yielded a large number of publications concerning the ecological changes following the formation of islands, such as the local extinction of large predators and the subsequent changes in prey populations. Applications to Island Like Systems (ILS) The theory of island biogeography was originally used to study oceanic islands, but those concepts can be extrapolated to other areas of study. Island species dynamics give information about how species move and interact within Island Like Systems (ILS). Rather than an actual island, ILS are primarily defined by their isolation within an ecosystem. In the case of an island, the area referred to as the matrix is usually the body of water surrounding it. The mainland is often the nearest non-island piece of land. Similarly, in an ILS the “mainland” is the source of