Invading Ecological Networks

Description

Until now, biological invasions have been conceptualised and studied mainly as a linear process: from introduction to establishment to spread. This volume charts a new course for the field, drawing on key developments in network ecology and complexity science. It defines an agenda for Invasion Science 2.0 by providing new framings and classification of research topics and by offering tentative solutions to vexing problems. In particular, it conceptualises a transformative ecosystem as an open adaptive network with critical transitions and turnover, with resident species heuristically learning and fine-tuning their niches and roles in a multiplayer eco-evolutionary game. It erects signposts pertaining to network interactions, structures, stability, dynamics, scaling, and invasibility. It is not a recipe book or a road map, but an atlas of possibilities: a 'hitchhiker's guide'.

Cang Hui is a Professor of Mathematical Biology and holds the South African Research Chair in Mathematical and Theoretical Physical Biosciences at Stellenbosch University. He is a trustee of the International Initiative for Theoretical Ecology. He has published widely on biological invasions and ecological networks. David M. Richardson is Director of the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University. He is a member of the Species Survival Specialist Group on Invasive Organisms for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. His main expertise is in invasion ecology, and particularly alien tree invasions. He has published extensively on invasive species and restoration ecology.