ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF INTRODUCED BIRDS

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.