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Presently, virtually no areas on Earth remain sheltered from the arrival and establishment of non-native plants, insects, and animals, in large part due to human activities. Failure to address this issue may have dire consequences, including disruption of vital ecological processes, loss of agricultural, forestry, and fishery resources, and even serious disease epidemics within human populations. At the same time, most non-native species are not invasive, and attempts to eradicate them may themselves result in environmental, economic, and even social damage.
Non-Native Species: Understanding the Impacts on Ecosystems and Societies provides a comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding invasion biology, which is a prominent, but sometimes controversial, area of applied biology. It will cover the mechanisms of natural and human-mediated biological invasions, their consequences from ecological, economic, political, and ethical perspectives, and discuss management options available for prevention and/or mitigation of the negative impacts of invasive species.
Written by an entomologist who studies invasive insects and plants and has spent over 20 years teaching a course on biological invasions,
Non-Native Species: Understanding the Impacts on Ecosystems and Societies offers anecdotes, insights, and case studies from the author’s own work and research. This book is an ideal reference for early career researchers with an interest in invasion ecology, or an ideal course companion for students at the undergraduate and graduate levels enrolled in courses on invasive species, non-native species, or biological invasions, particularly those who plan to major, minor, or concentrate in entomology.
List of contents
Part I. Understanding invasions
Part II. Putting things in perspective
Part III. Dealing with invasions
Part IV. Human dimensions1. Definitions
2. The process in space and time
3. Evolutionary aspects
4. Ecological ramifications
5. Natural invasions
6. Unnatural invasions
7. Human invasions
8. Managed invasions
9. Predicting
10. Preventing
11. Remediating
12. Accepting
13. Economics
14. Ethics
15. Public perceptions
16. Scientific perspectives
Part V. Moving forward
About the author
Dr. Andrei Alyokhin received B.S. degree in Education in Biology and Chemistry from Moscow Pedagogical State University in Moscow, Russia. He then completed a Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, advised by Dr. David Ferro. After doing post-doctoral work at the University of Hawaii under the supervision of Dr. Russell Messing, he joined faculty at the University of Maine in January of 2001 as an Assistant Professor of Applied Entomology. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007, and then to Professor in 2013. He also served one term as a Director of the School of Biology and Ecology.
Dr. Alyokhin is interested in applied insect ecology, behavior, evolution of insecticide resistance, and integrated pest management. He is working mostly in potato agroecosystems, although recently he also started looking at insect mediated recycling of organic wastes. Dr. Alyokhin has authored or co-authored 181 publications, including 83 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals. He also taught or co-taught Insect Ecology, Pesticides and the Environment, Biological Invasions, Introductory Applied Entomology, Evolution, Advanced Insect Pest Ecology and Management, Capstone Experience in Biological Sciences, and Professionalism in Biology. In addition, Dr. Alyokhin maintains an extensive outreach program to a variety of stakeholders, including potato growers, other crop production professionals, natural resource managers, K-12 students, and members of the general public. He is a recipient of several professional awards from Entomological Society of America, National Association of County Agricultural Agents, Aroostook County Extension Association, College of Natural Sciences, Food, and Agriculture at the University of Maine, and the U.S. National Park Service.
