Plants Invade The Land

What do we now know about the origins of plants on land, from an evolutionary and an environmental perspective? The essays in this collection present a synthesis of our present state of knowledge, integrating current information in paleobotany with physical, chemical, and geological data.

Biological invasion of native plant communities is a high-priority problem in the field of environmental management. Resource managers, biologists, and all those involved in plant communities must consider ecological interactions when assessing both the effects of plant invasion and the long-term effects of management. Sections of the book cover human perceptions of invading plants, assessment of ecological interactions, direct management, and regulation and advocacy. It also includes an appendix with descriptive data for many of the worst weeds.

This long-awaited book about non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) aims to cover gaps in our knowledge of these abundant but understudied palynological remains. NPPs, such as fungal spores, testate amoebae, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs and animal remains, are routinely recovered from palynological preparations of marine or terrestrial material, from Proterozoic to recent geological times. This book gives the reader a comprehensive overview of the different types of NPPs, with examples from diverse time periods and environments. It provides guidance on sample preparation to maximize the recovery of these NPPs, detailed information on their diversity and ecological affinity, clarification on the nomenclature and demonstrates their value as environmental indicators. This volume will become the reference guide for any student, academic or practitioner interested in everything else in their palynological preparations.

Aliens From Earth is an intriguing introduction to the serious and ongoing environmental problems caused by invasive plant and animal species. Describing various examples--from the accidental release of the gypsy moth into the United States to the de

Offers a practical guide for the non-specialist on studying and learning from plant fossils to understand the evolution of vegetation on Earth.

As with each of the books in the series, Plant Invaders: The threat to natural ecosystems aims to give an authoritative account of the subject in a jargon-free style. It should therefore be of interest not only to the biologists studying plant invasion, but also to land managers and others concerned with practical conservation. Case studies of invasive species highlight specific problems from a wide range of countries, including North America, Africa, Australia, South and South East Asia, Europe, and the Pacific and Atlantic islands. The book contains an invaluable list of invasive species with their countries of origin and regions of introduction. A full bibliography carries references to all cited articles and books.

Elton sought to articulate more explicitly his vision of an entire field of invasion science. The 1958 book, aimed at an educated lay audience, was almost wholly descriptive, dominated by striking examples of the nature and scope of particular invasions beginning with the seven examples detailed in Chapter 1. From the materials in the proof copy and other sources, we can imagine a new edition would also have targeted biologists and been somewhat more technical and prescriptive. In autobiographical notes he penned near the end of his life, Elton wrote regarding EIAP, “This whole subject has deep significance for the study of plant and animal communities and their balance (or unbalance),”19 and indeed many of the reprints and notes refer to interactions among species and community-wide effects.

The theme of this book is the invasion of land by animal lines which originated in aquatic environments. It brings together physiological and ecological evidence to show both the likely routes taken out of the sea by the aquatic ancestors of terrestrial animals and the changes in structure and function associated with these routes. The author takes an ecophysiological approach, and by using representative examples, provides a novel background against which both the terrestrial adaptations of individual species and the make up and function of terrestrial ecosystems can be considered. Dr Little is the author of the highly acclaimed book The Colonisation of Land, which discusses the phylogeny and physiology of terrestrial and semi-terrestrial animals. The Terrestrial Invasion takes a fresh approach and provides an excellent introduction to the origins of land animals suitable for ecologists, physiologists and evolutionary biologists.