Abstract
Relaxation is the process by which species are lost from an island following a disturbance event that increases the rate of local extinction, decreases the rate of colonization, or both. The disturbance is typically a decrease in area or increase in isolation, but it may alternatively be a change in habitat quality or any other disturbance event that decreases the number of species that the island can support at equilibrium (Fig. 1). Relaxation is most commonly referred to in the setting of continental islands or mainland habitat fragments (e.g., sky islands). In both of these settings, habitat that was originally