Conceptual Ecology and Invasion Biology: Reciprocal Approaches to Nature (Invading Nature - Springer Series in Invasion Ecology)

The conservation threat represented by invasive species is well-known, but the scientific opportunities are underappreciated. Invasion studies have historically been largely directed at the important job of collecting case studies. Invasion biology has matured to the point of being able to incorporating itself into the heart of ecology, and should be viewed as extensions or critical experiments of ecological theory. In this edited volume, global experts in ecology and evolutionary biology explore how theories in ecology elucidate the invasion processes while also examining how specific invasions informs ecological theory. This reciprocal benefit is highlighted in a number of scales of organization: population, community and biogeographic, while employing example invaders in all major groups of organisms and from a number of regions around the globe. The chapters in this volume utilize many of the cutting edge observational, experimental, analytical and computational methods used in modern ecology. Through merging conceptual ecology and invasion biology we can obtain a better understanding of the invasion process while also developing a better understanding of how ecological systems function. Cove Page......Page 1 Title Page......Page 4 ISBN 1402041578......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Contributors......Page 9 Foreword......Page 14 Preface......Page 16 Introduction, history and terminology......Page 18 1 Tracking the tractable: using invasions to guide the exploration of conceptual ecology......Page 20 2 Darwin to Elton: early ecology and the problem of invasive species......Page 32 3 Invasion biology 1958-2005: the pursuit of science and conservation......Page 52 4 Invasiveness in exotic plants: immigration and naturalization in an ecological continuum......Page 82 Populations at play......Page 124 5 Density dependence in invasive plants: demography, herbivory, spread and evolution......Page 126 6 Stochasticity, nonlinearity and instability in biological invasions......Page 142 7 Local interactions and invasion dynamics: population growth in space and time......Page 164 8 A guide to calculating discrete-time invasion rates from data......Page 186 9 The role of evolutionary genetics in studies of plant invasions......Page 210 Unwelcomed visitor: species interactions......Page 240 10 Contact experience, alien-native interactions, and their community consequences: a theoretical consideration......Page 242 11 Use of biological invasions and their control to study the dynamics of interacting populations......Page 260 12 Invasibility of seed predators on synchronized and intermittent seed production of host plants......Page 288 13 Invasions and the regulation of plant populations by pathogens......Page 306 14 Exploring the relationship between niche breadth and invasion success......Page 324 15 Interactions between invasive plants and soil ecosystems: positive feedbacks and their potential to persist......Page 340 16 Invasion biology as a community process: messages from microbial microcosms......Page 360 Large-scale consequences and patterns of invasions......Page 386 17 Understanding invasions in patchy habitats through metapopulation theory......Page 388 18 Competition and the assembly of introduced bird communities......Page 422 19 Room for one more? Evidence for invasibility and saturation in ecological communities......Page 440 20 The biogeography of naturalized species and the species-area relationship:......Page 466 Synthesis......Page 498 21 Linking scale dependent processes in invasions......Page 500 Index......Page 512 Back Page......Page 523

The conservation threat represented by invasive species is well-known, but the scientific opportunities are underappreciated. Invasion studies have historically been largely directed at the important job of collecting case studies. Invasion biology has matured to the point of being able to incorporating itself into the heart of ecology, and should be viewed as extensions or critical experiments of ecological theory.

In this edited volume, global experts in ecology and evolutionary biology explore how theories in ecology elucidate the invasion processes while also examining how specific invasions informs ecological theory. This reciprocal benefit is highlighted in a number of scales of organization: population, community and biogeographic, while employing example invaders in all major groups of organisms and from a number of regions around the globe. The chapters in this volume utilize many of the cutting edge observational, experimental, analytical and computational methods used in modern ecology. Through merging conceptual ecology and invasion biology we can obtain a better understanding of the invasion process while also developing a better understanding of how ecological systems function.

"In this edited volume, global experts in ecology and evolutionary biology explore how theories in ecology elucidate the invasion processes while also examining how specific invasions informs ecological theory. This reciprocal benefit is highlighted in a number of scales of organization; population, community and biogeographic, while employing example invaders in all major groups of organisms and from a number of regions around the globe. The chapters in this volume utilize many of the cutting edge observational, experimental, analytical and computational methods used in modern ecology. Through merging conceptual ecology and invasion biology we can obtain a better understanding of the invasion process while also developing a better understanding at how ecological systems function."--Jacket In this edited volume, global experts in ecology and evolutionary biology explore how theories in ecology elucidate the processes of invasion, while also examining how specific invasions inform ecological theory. The text describes example invaders in all major groups of organisms and from a number of regions around the globe.