Book Review

BOOK REVIEWInvasion Ecology, 2nd edition

Invasion Ecology, 2nd edition. JulieLockwood, Martha Hoopes and MichaelMarchetti. 2013. John Wiley & Sons,Oxford, U. K., 456 pages, £90.00(Hardcover), £39.95 (Paperback), ISBN978–1–4443–3365–7 (paperback). Alsoavailable as E-book.

The notion that biological inva-sions are important drivers of

ecosystem degradation has beenunder heavy debate. Many authorsconsider biological invasions tobe important drivers of ecosys-tem degradation (see discussionin Richardson & Ricciardi 2013),whereas others suggest that theyare, in many cases, “passengers”—capitalizing on other anthropogenicdisturbances (MacDougall & Turk-ington 2005). While some authorsconsider invasive non-native speciesto be a substantial threat to bio-diversity and ecosystem stabilityand a major and growing cause ofpopulation-level and species-levelextinctions (Ricciardi 2004), otherssuggest that biological invasions arean extension of normal colonizationprocesses such as succession andrange expansion (Davis 2009), andthat net species diversity, in mostcases, increases following biologicalinvasions, at least over short timescales (Thomas 2013). Some authorsargue that the biogeographic originof a species is irrelevant to its impactand that the impact of non-nativeand native species that are invasiveis often equivalent (e.g. Davis et al.2011) while others point out that theevolutionary history is indeed impor-tant in the outcome of invasions andthat the biogeographic origins ofspecies do matter to understandingwhy some invasions cause greaterimpacts than others (Richardson &Ricciardi 2013).

The new edition of Invasion Ecologyby Julie Lockwood et al. provides anexcellent introduction for anybodywho is interested in better under-standing the concepts and theoriesbehind these arguments. In a refresh-ingly unbiased treatment, the authorsemphasize the value of non-nativespecies as “unique sources of ecolog-ical and evolutionary knowledge”at the same time acknowledgingthat “non-native species can drive(ecosystem) changes in ways thatmay be detrimental.” The motivationof the book is not only to give a basicoverview of invasion ecology butalso to focus on “how non-nativespecies interact with human societyand how ecological knowledge canbe used to thwart the influx andimpacts of invasive species.”

The book covers all the mainthemes in the field, starting with adetailed discussion of transport vec-tors and pathways that result in therelease of non-native species and therelationship between transport vec-tors and the rate at which non-nativespecies are detected (Chapters 2 and3). In Chapter 4 interactions betweenpropagule size and composition andnumber of release events (propagulenumber) and establishment suc-cess are explored, and Chapter 5provides a critical approach to thefacilitative role of disturbance inbiological invasions. In Chapter 6the authors discuss the paradigm ofbiological resistance; “the notion thatnative species can hinder non-nativespecies establishment.” Chapter 7gives an introduction to modelingthe geographical spread of invasivespecies and in Chapter 8 the rolesof population growth, dispersal,biotic interactions, and temporaland environmental heterogeneityin the spread of non-native speciesare discussed. In Chapter 9 impactsof invasive species are reviewedand examples at different biologicallevels are given whereas Chapter10 provides a synthesis of impactsincluding how scientific and human

perceptions in general influenceimpact analysis. In Chapter 12 theauthors discuss how ecologist canpredict if particular species are likelyto become invasive and whetherand when it is possible to effectivelyprevent their introduction. Chapter13 covers management related issuessuch as eradication, “the completeremoval of all individuals of theinvasive population,” and control,“the reduction of the size of theinvasive population below andacceptable threshold level.” In theclosing chapter interactions betweenclimate change and species invasionsare examined.

I highly recommend the book tonewcomers to the field of invasionecology. The authors introduce themost important principles, ideas,and concepts of invasion ecologyacross a wide range of aspects inplain language and illustrate ideasand applications with a numberof well-chosen examples. The onlydrawback is a clear geographicalbias toward the northern hemisphereespecially North America (Califor-nia in particular), apart from someexamples from Australia. Althoughthere is a strong geographical biastoward the northern hemispherein the invasion ecology literature(Pyšek et al. 2008) there are numer-ous and vibrant research activities insouthern hemisphere countries suchas South Africa (e.g. Richardson et al.2011) and Chile (e.g. Pauchard et al.2008; Castro et al. 2010).

LITERATURE CITED

Castro, S. A., E. Badano, D. Guzman, andL. Cavieres. 2010. Biological invasion of arefuge habitat: Anthriscus caucalis (Apiaceae)decreases diversity, evenness, and survivalof native herbs in the Chilean matorral.Biological Invasions 12:1295–1303.

Davis, M. A. 2009. Invasion biology. Oxford Uni-versity Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Davis, M. A., M. K. Chew, R. J. Hobbs, et al. 2011.Don’t judge species on their origins. Nature474:153–154.

MacDougall, A. S., and R. Turkington. 2005. Areinvasive species the drivers or passengers

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Book Review

of change in degraded ecosystems? Ecology86:42–55.

Pauchard, A., R. A. Garcia, E. Pena, C. Gonzalez,L. A. Cavieres, and R. O. Bustamante. 2008.Positive feedbacks between plant invasionsand fire regimes: Teline monspessulana (L.) K.Koch (Fabaceae) in central Chile. BiologicalInvasions 10:547–553.

Pyšek, P., D. M. Richardson, J. Pergl, V. Jarosik, Z.Sixtova, and E. Weber. 2008. Geographicaland taxonomic biases in invasion ecology.Trends in Ecology & Evolution 23:237–244.

Ricciardi, A. 2004. Assessing species invasions asa cause of extinction. Trends in Ecology &Evolution 19:619.

Richardson, D. M., and A. Ricciardi. 2013. Mis-leading criticisms of invasion science: afield guide. Diversity and Distributions19:1461–1467.

Richardson, D. M., J. Carruthers, C. Hui, F. A. C.Impson, et al. 2011. Human-mediated intro-ductions of Australian acacias – a globalexperiment in biogeography. Diversity andDistributions 17:771–787.

Thomas, C. D. 2013. The Anthropocene couldraise biological diversity. Nature 502:7.

Mirijam GaertnerCentre for Invasion Biology, StellenboschUniversity, Stellenbosch, South AfricaE-mail: gaertnem@sun.ac.za

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