This edited book provides an ensemble of contemporary research related to the challenges, impacts and precautionary measures for tackling plant invasions in the context of changing climate in different regions of the world. In current scenario, plant invasions are expansive and significant component of anthropogenic global climate change. Temperature variations may compromise the adaptability of native species, thereby stressing them and decreasing the resistance potential of natural communities to invasion. Invasive alien species under the current scenario have been suggested as a major threat to biodiversity. It is also predicted that increasing disturbances or extreme events such as fires, floods, cyclones, storms, heat-waves, droughts, etc. will be direct consequences of changing climate supporting the invasive alien species. A comprehensive understanding of the interaction between species invasion and climate change will be supplemental in forecasting future shifts in biodiversity. Further, different predictive models indicate a plausible increase in the abundance and impact of invasive alien species which may have direct implications for future research and target-oriented policy and decision making. However, these predictions become more complicated considering the complexity of interactions between the impacts of changing climate with other components of global change (changes in land use, nitrogen deposition, etc.) which are affecting the distribution of native plant species, ecosystem dynamics as well as non-native/invasive species. This book will be suitable for students (undergraduate and postgraduates) of agriculture, forestry, ecology, soil science, and environmental sciences; teachers, researchers, and climate change scientists in academic and research institutions. It will also be applicable to environmental management agencies, government agencies and policy makers.

Taking a global perspective, this book examines what will happen to invasive species, including plants, animals and pathogens,with current and expected man-made climate change.

This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.

There are many books on aspects of plant invasions, but none that focus on the key role of species interactions in mediating invasions. This book reviews exciting new findings and explores how new methods and tools are shedding new light on crucial processes in plant invasions. This book will be of interest to academics and students of ecology, researchers engaged in developing management solutions, scientific managers of natural ecosystems, and policy-makers.

Invasive species have inspired concern for many reasons, including economic and environmental impacts in specific jurisdictions within particular countries. However, it is apparent that for some invasive plant species, political borders offer only weak barriers because these species have succeeded in invading many countries, emerging as threats at a global level. With this level of threat, a number of books on invasive plants and invasive species in general have been published in recent years, but none explicitly provides “global” coverage, perhaps because it is only recently that the full geographical, economic and environmental implications of widespread spread and adaptive nature of these particular invasive plants have been recognized. We plan to make this volume unique by profiling plant invasions in explicitly geographical contexts; on the world continents (Chapters 5-11), as well as islands (Chapter 12) and mountains (Chapter 13). This global approach is supported by an overview of invasion biology and recent advances (Chapter 1) and how different communities differ in invasibility (Chapter 2). Global factors influencing invasion are introduced in Chapter 3 (globalized trade) and Chapter 4 (climate change). Key species are profiled through geographic treatments, continent by continent (Chapters 5-11), and for islands (Chapter 12) and mountains (Chapter 13). The impact of invasive plants is highlighted in Chapter 14, both in biotic and economic terms, partly to counter the tendency for the young field of invasion biology to rely too much on anecdotal evidence. This chapters is also designed to bring home the message that these are serious problems that must be dealt with, as covered in the subsequent chapters. The book concludes with three chapters casting light on solutions to the many problems described in the rest of the volume. Chapter 15 features new, innovative technologies that are being developed to monitor and manage invasive plants, and Chapter 16 presents comprehensive strategies for public education and implementation of management on local and global scales. Chapter 17 describes different future scenarios depending on current trends in plant invasion and its management, just as climate change predictions employ various scenarios to project the future. The future is very much up to us, as humanity grapples with the question of how best to strategically meet the problems of global invasive plant problems that we ourselves have created that is further challenged by a changing climate. We are confident that this book will be of interest to invasion biologists, resource managers, and the legion of others who must deal with these invasive plants across the globe on a daily basis.

This book examines the impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems. Emphasis is placed on impacts of atmospheric, climate and land use change, and the book discusses the future challenges and the scientific frameworks to address them. Finally, the book explores fundamental new research developments and the need for stronger integration of natural and human dimensions in addressing the challenge of global change.