© 2001 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
BOOK REVIEW
1 Department of Zoology University of New Hampshire Rudman Hall 46 College Road Durham, New Hampshire 03824E-mail: jebyers{at}unh.edu
The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants (Rerelease). Charles Elton with a new foreword by Daniel Simberloff. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2000. xiv + 181 pp. (ISBN 0-226-20638-6 paperback)
Elton's classic 1958 book is the work that essentially put biological invasion on ecologists' radar screens and began to build this subdiscipline into an important component of modern conservation biology. The original publication date of this work belies many invasion scientists' notion that economic and ecological woes of invasive species are a "new" problem. As a student of invasion ecology, I had previously read excerpts from and cited this book numerous times. The republication of this book, however, prompted me to sit down and read it cover to cover. It proved to be extremely easy to read—not often the case with books from a different era. Elton had, in fact, intended his book to be accessible to a wide, lay audience.
The book is largely an insightful compendium of specifics of many invasions, often illustrated with detailed figures showing various invaders' spread through time, that were observable in the late 1950s. These examples that were notable at the time of original publication are valuable now for their historical importance, and are rendered even more interesting by the fact that the reader likely knows (at least generally) the progression of some of these invasions in the ensuing 40+ years since the book's initial publication. Elton in an early chapter sets invasions in the context of a breaking down of Alfred Wallace's Zoogeographical Realms, the "great faunal realms in different parts of the world, corresponding in the main to the continents." Today this seems a bit antiquated and the reader can get lost in the detail. But it provides an interesting reflection of the perspective of the times in which Elton wrote. Importantly, this approach reflects Elton's thorough effort to understand invasions and their effects using the predominant paleobiology constructs of his day. Arguing for conservation efforts from this paleo-perspective was a twist that I found more compelling than many contemporary pleas for vigilance against biological invasions argued on the grounds of simply "saving native biodiversity." In a couple of later chapters Elton expounds on mechanisms and factors that promote or inhibit invasions. These chapters will be of special interest to students of biological invasion who will recognize many of the issues that continue to be addressed in the current literature.
The new edition of the book contains a short foreword by D. Simberloff, a fount of encyclopedic knowledge on biological invasions. The most interesting bits of his introduction compare Elton's insights to our present knowledge of invasion processes. He poses the interesting (and humbling) question whether all subsequent studies and theories of invasion simply re-hash Elton's perceptions—much the way most academic study of evolution could be argued is merely "a footnote to Darwin". Obviously this is a nicely contentious topic for discussion groups or seminars addressing biological invasions.
Notably impressive is Elton's insight concerning the conservation ramifications of biological invasion, particularly in terms of large-scale endangerment and extirpation of native species—this is a facet for which we have had solid quantitative support only in the last several years. Also noteworthy is his insight into the magnitude of the problem in marine systems—an aspect of invasions even today often overlooked. Overall, this easy, enjoyable read provides invaluable historical perspective on our continuing struggle to understand, and ultimately predict, biological invasions.
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