Avian Invasions - The Ecology and Evolution of Exotic Birds

Avian Invasions: The Ecology and Evolution of Exotic Birds
Tim M. Blackburn , Julie L. Lockwood, Phillip Cassey
1st edition
320 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0199232550
ISBN-10: 0199232555

Biological invaders represent one of the primary threats to the maintenance of global biodiversity, human health, and the success of human economic enterprises. The continuing globalization of our society ensures that the need to understand the process of biological invasion will only increase in the future. There is also a growing recognition that the study of biological invaders provides a unique insight into basic questions in ecology and evolution.

The study of exotic birds has had a particularly long history and has come to represent a fascinating intersection between the study of biological invasions, avian conservation biology, and basic principles of ecology and evolution. Avian Invasions summarizes and synthesizes this unique historical record and unravels the insights that the study of exotic birds brings to all three of these research strands. It includes chapters on the well-known contributions of exotic bird study to ecological science, and on the post-establishment evolution of introduced bird populations. The result is the most comprehensive picture yet of the invasion process.



Table of Contents

1 Introduction to the Study of Exotic Birds
2 Transport and Introduction
3 The Role of Contingency in Establishment Success
4 The Role of Species Traits in Establishment Success
5 The Role of Location in Establishment Success
6 Geographic Range Expansion of Exotic Birds
7 The Ecology of Exotic Birds in Novel Locations
8 The Genetics of Exotic Bird Introductions
9 The Evolution of Exotic Birds
10 Lessons from Exotic Birds

Bibliography
Index