In 1966, scientists deliberately wiped out almost every insect and other arthropod on several tiny mangrove islands in the Florida Keys. The experiment was designed to test how quickly animal communities could rebuild themselves after being almost completely removed. Ecologists Daniel Simberloff and Edward O. Wilson used the islands as natural laboratories to study the processes that determine which species live on isolated habitats. The results provided important evidence for the Theory of Island Biogeography and helped change how scientists understand biodiversity and ecosystem recovery.
