Invasive Plants: Ecological and Agricultural Aspects

Hardback  XVIII, 283 p  ISBN 3764371374      £93.00

The aim of this book is to discuss fundamental questions of invasion ecology, such as why particular communities become more invasible than others, what the mechanisms of exclusion of native species by invaders are, and whether invasion can be predicted.

In addition, agricultural practices influencing invasion, the environmental and economic costs of invasion as well as possible management strategies are discussed. Readers will get a unique perspective on invasion ecology through employing general principles of ecology to plant invasions.

Written for researchers, postgraduate and graduate students

Contents

• In search of an operational lexicon for biological invasions.
• Section 1 Ecological aspects: The ecology of biological invasions: past, present and future.- Ecological niche models and the geography of biological invasions: a review and a novel application.- Importance of species replication in understanding plant invasions into North American grasslands.- Residence time determines the distribution of alien plants.- The relationship between community diversity and exotic plants: cause or consequence of invasion?- Invasive plants: the process within wetland ecosystems.- Understanding invasions: the rise and fall of diffuse knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) in North America.- Defining a regional approach for invasive plant research and management.- Allelopathy as a mechanism for esisting invasion: the case of Polygonella myriophylla.
• Section 2 Agricultural aspects: Ecology and management of an exotic weed Phalaris minor.- Reducing agroecosystem vulnerability to weed invasion.