With the exception of climate change, biological
invasions have probably received more attention during
the past ten years than any other ecological topic. Yet
this is the first synthetic, single-authored overview of
the field since Williamson's 1996 book. Written fifty
years after the publication of Elton's pioneering
monograph on the subject, Invasion Biology provides a
comprehensive and up-to-date review of the science of
biological invasions while also offering new insights
and perspectives relating to the processes of
introduction, establishment, and spread. The book
connects science with application by describing the
health, economic, and ecological impacts of invasive
species as well as the variety of management strategies
developed to mitigate harmful impacts. The author
critically evaluates the approaches, findings, and
controversies that have characterized invasion biology
in recent years, and suggests a variety of future
research directions.Carefully balanced to avoid distinct
taxonomic, ecosystem, and geographic (both investigator
and species) biases, the book addresses a wide range of
invasive species (including protists, invertebrates,
vertebrates, fungi, and plants) which have been studied
in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments
throughout the world by investigators equally diverse in
their origins. This accessible and thought-provoking
text will be of particular interest to graduate level
students and established researchers in the fields of
invasion biology, community ecology, conservation
biology, and restoration ecology. It will also be of
value and use to land managers, policy makers, and other
professionals charged with controlling the negative
impacts associated with recently arrived species. |
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