edited by Herbert H.T. Prins, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and Iain J. Gordon, James Hutton Institute, UK
xiv, 528 pages :
illustrations, maps ;
26 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index
Testing hypotheses about biological invasions and Charles Darwin's two-creators rumination / Herbert H.T. Prins and Iain J. Gordon -- Australia's Acacia : unrecognized convergent evolution / Joseph T. Miller and Martin Burd -- The mixed success of Mimosoideae clades invading into Australia / Kyle W. Tomlinson -- Perspectives from parrots on biological invasions / Leo Joseph -- Invasion ecology of honeyeaters / Janette A. Norman and Leslie Christidis -- The invasion of terrestrial fauna into marine habitat : birds in mangroves / David Luther -- The biological invasion of Sirenia into Australasia / Hans H. de Iongh and Daryl P. Domning -- Flying foxes and drifting continents / David A. Westcott and Adam McKeown -- Invasion ecology of Australasian marsupials / Christopher R. Dickman -- Murine rodents : late but highly successful invaders / Ken Aplin and Fred Ford -- Drift of a continent : broken connections / Carol Ann Stannard -- The development of a climate : an arid continent with wet fringes / Sandra McLaren, Malcolm W. Wallace, Stephen J. Gallagher, Barbara E. Wagstaff and Anne-Marie P. Tosolini -- Invasion of woody shrubs and trees / Kris French, Ben Gooden and Tanya Mason -- Modern tree colonisers from Australia into the rest of the world / Trevor H. Booth -- Failed introductions : finches from outside Australia / Jan Komdeur and Martijn Hammers -- The skylark / Judit K. Szabo -- Why northern hemisphere waders did not colonise the south / Ken Kraaijeveld -- Weak migratory interchange by birds between Australia and Asia / David Roshier and Leo Joseph -- Introducing a new top predator, the dingo / Christopher N. Johnson and Mike Letnic -- The European rabbit : Australia's worst mammalian invader / Steven R. McLeod and Glen Saunders -- The rise and fall of the Asian water buffalo in the monsoonal tropics of northern Australia / Patricia A. Werner -- A critique of ecological theory and a salute to natural history / Herbert H.T. Prins and Iain J. Gordon
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"Many conservationists argue that invasive species form one of the most important threats to ecosystems the world over, often spreading quickly through their new environments and jeopardising the conservation of native species. As such, it is important that reliable predictions can be made regarding the effects of new species on particular habitats. This book provides a critical appraisal of ecosystem theory using case studies of biological invasions in Australasia. Each chapter is built around a set of 11 central hypotheses from community ecology, which were mainly developed in North American or European contexts. The authors examine the hypotheses in the light of evidence from their particular species, testing their power in explaining the success or failure of invasion and accepting or rejecting each hypothesis as appropriate. The conclusions have far-reaching consequences for the utility of community ecology, suggesting a rejection of its predictive powers and a positive reappraisal of natural history"--Publisher's description