We are testing our hypotheses using a system of age-structured communities in Metrosideros mesic to wet forest at multiple sites on the youngest island of Hawaii and comparing these to communities on Maui, Molokai, and Kauai (the oldest island). Within Hawaii Island, because it is still forming geologically, lineages of organisms are actively diversifying, and their communities and food webs are actively changing. Thus, variables relevant to entire communities can be measured at multiple “slices in time” over the period of community formation.