Aim To evaluate the patterns of stream diatom beta diversity in islands versus continents across scales, to relate community similarities with spatial and environmental distances and to investigate the role of island characteristics in shaping insular diatom beta diversity. Location Africa, America, Europe and the Pacific. Time Period Present. Major Taxa Studied Stream diatoms. Methods We compared diatom beta diversity between...

Aim Understanding the roles of deterministic and stochastic processes in community assembly is essential for gaining insights into the biogeographical patterns of biodiversity. However, the way community assembly processes operate is still not fully understood, especially in oceanic islands. In this study, we examine the importance of assembly processes in shaping diatom communities in islands and continents, while also invest...

Aim The species–area relationship (SAR) is one of the most distinctive biogeographic patterns, but global comparisons of the SARs between island and mainland are lacking for microbial taxa. Here, we explore whether the form of the SAR and the drivers of species richness, including area, environmental heterogeneity, climate and physico‐chemistry, differ between islands and similarly sized areas on mainland, referred to as conti...