Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants

ISBN-13: 9780412214608 / Angielski / Miękka / 1977 / 181 str.

Charles S. Elton; C. S. Elton

Opis

n this book I have tried to bring together ideas from three different Istreams of thought with which I have been closely concerned during the last thirty years or so. The first is faunal history, usually regarded as a purely academic subject, but to some of whose events can be traced a number of the serious dislocations taking place in the world today. The second is ecology, particularly the structure and dynamics of populations. The third is conservation. I first published a few ideas about the signifi- cance of invasions in 1943, in a war-time review called Polish Science and Learning, under the title of 'The changing realms of animal life'. Since then I have had the opportunity to think pretty hard about conservation, while taking part in the planning and development of the Nature Con- servancy. In March 1957 I gave three broadcasts in the B. B. C. 's Third Programme, under the title of 'Balance and Barrier'. These were sub- sequently printed in The Listener (1957, Vol. 57, pp. 514-15,556-7,596-7, and 600). The present book is essentially an expansion of these. I am extremely grateful to Mr James C. Thornton and Dr John Simons for in planning and giving these talks. advice and help In preparing this book I have had invaluable assistance from the staff of the Bureau of Animal Population. Miss C. M. Gibbs typed the fair copy. Miss M.

Spis treści

1. The Invaders.- 2. Wallace’s Realms: The Archipelago of Continents.- 3. The Invasion of Continents.- 4. The Fate of Remote Islands.- 5. Changes in the Sea.- 6. The Balance between Populations.- 7. New Food-Chains for Old.- 8. The Reasons for Conservation.- 9. The Conservation of Variety.- References.