ABSTRACT
— The functional adjustments made by vertebrates to facilitate long-term persistence on islands in the West Indies are examined. Evidence of these adjustments is obscured by the extended period of human occupation of these islands, an occupation that has led to an extensive extinction of the indigenous fauna. The available evidence indicates that vertebrates living on these islands made adjustments similar to those made by vertebrates found on tropical islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. These adjustments include (1) a reduction in body mass; (2) the evolution of flightlessness among birds; (3) the evolution of low rates of metabolism; (4) the selective evolution of torpor; and (5) the partial replacement of endotherms by ectotherms. All of these changes reduce resource requirements, which facilitate the survivorship of species on islands where the resource base limits the size of populations and where weather instabilities decrease survivorship of resident populations. Unfortunately, relatively few surviving endemic vertebrates living on West Indies islands have been studied from this viewpoint.
