Invasion ecology is the study of the causes and consequences of the introduction of organisms to areas outside their native range.  Interest in this field has exploded in the past few decades.  Explaining why and how organisms are moved around the world, how and why some become established and invade, and how best to manage invasive species in the face of global change are all crucial issues that interest biogeographers, ecologists and environmental managers in all parts of the world.  This book brings together the insights of more than 50 authors to examine the origins, foundations, current dimensions and potential trajectories of invasion ecology. It revisits key tenets of the foundations of invasion ecology, including contributions of pioneering naturalists of the 19th century, including Charles Darwin and British ecologist Charles Elton, whose 1958 monograph on invasive species is widely acknowledged as having focussed scientific attention on biological invasions.

David M. Richardson is Professor in the Department of Botany & Zoology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and is Deputy Director: Science Strategy at the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology.   He is one of the most prolific authors in invasion ecology and was awarded the 2006 Hans Sigrist Prize for his work in this field.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and since 1998 has been Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Diversity and Distributions (Wiley-Blackwell).