The Evolutionary Ecology of Invasive Species

The Evolutionary Ecology of Invasive Species

The Evolutionary Ecology of Invasive Species offers new insights into the mechanisms that underlie rapid evolution in these species. The book provides a comprehensive overview of achievements in the field during the boom of information over the past two decades and includes discussions of possible future directions for the study of evolution in invasive species. Written by an international expert in invasion ecology, population genetics, and evolutionary biology, the book explores the roles of preadaptation, phenotypic plasticity, selection, and stochastic processes in driving rapid evolution. The book draws insights from a wide spectrum of invasive microbes, plants, and animals, covering many of the planet’s biogeographic regions and discusses the evolutionary consequences for native species in response to biological invasions. A valuable resource to researchers and students in evolutionary biology, invasive species biology, and global change biology, this text suggests future research directions related to the evolutionary biology, impacts, and management of invasive species. Highlights the most recent advances and developments in using evolutionary principles to study and manage invasive species - Offers new and often overlooked insights in processes that govern rapid evolution - Discusses key stages of population demography that underlie rapid evolutionary change in invasive species, including their introduction, naturalisation, and dispersal "The book provides a good framework for readers to engage with modern ideas and discoveries in the field." --Robert I. Colautti, The Quarterly Review of Biology. A comprehensive synthesis of up-to-date information, processes and the future of invasive organisms The Evolutionary Ecology of Invasive Species summarizes the processes that facilitate rapid evolution during species invasion and provides the most up-to-date information in the field. This book offers new insights into the mechanisms that may underlie evolution of these species, including hologenomic and epigenetic variation. A comprehensive overview of achievements in the field during the boom of information over the past two decades, and discussions of possible future directions for the study of evolution in invasive species are also included. Written by an international expert in invasion ecology, genetics, and evolutionary biology, The Evolutionary Ecology of Invasive Species explores methods such as strong selection and the release from native range predators, which make biological invasions unique model systems to study contemporary evolution. The book draws insights from a wide spectrum of invasive microbes, plants, and animals, covering many of the planet’s biogeographic regions and theorizing the evolutionary consequences for native species in response to biological invasions. A valuable resource to researchers and students in evolutionary biology, invasive species biology, and global change biology, this text suggests future research directions in evolutionary biology related to climate change and invasive species management. Dr. Johannes Le Roux currently serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He is also International Research Associate in the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He received his PhD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences. Dr. Le Roux’s principal research interests focus around molecular ecology and population dynamics of invasive species, evolutionary biology, biogeography of plants, and plant-microbial interactions. In addition to publishing numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on invasive species, Dr. Le Roux currently serves as Associate Editor for Austral Ecology, Biological Invasions, and Oecologia.