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Invading Ecological Networks

Invading Ecological Networks

Invading Ecological Networks

Cang Hui, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
David Richardson, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
May 2022
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Adobe eBook Reader
9781108805001

    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'.

    • Provides a 'hitchhiker's guide' to Invasion Science 2.0
    • Introduces the theory of open adaptive networks, step-by-step, using explanations in ordinary-language and examples throughout
    • Stimulates thinking towards novel ecosystems under persistent transition and turnover of species

    Reviews & endorsements

    'This book represents a significant contribution to the field by articulating important ecological questions in the context of previous work in invasion science and by providing new perspectives that ecologists need in order to face the great environmental challenges of our time.' Laura Burkle, The Quarterly Review of Biology

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    Product details

    May 2022
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781108805001
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Invasion science 1.0
    • 2. Relentless evolution
    • 3. Network assembly
    • 4. Regimes and panarchy
    • 5. Network transitions
    • 6. Network scaling
    • 7. Rethinking invasibility.
      Authors
    • Cang Hui , Stellenbosch University, South Africa

      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 Richardson , Stellenbosch University, South Africa

      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.