Histories of Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean

Bioinvasions is a current top research subject for natural sciences, social sciences and humanities and a major concern for conservationists, land managers and planners. In the last decades, new findings, perspectives and practices have revealed the multifaceted challenges of preventing new introductions and dealing with those invasive species that harm natural ecosystems, economy and human welfare.

This book brings together environmental historians and natural scientists to share their studies and experiences on the human dimensions of biological invasions from the ancient past to the current challenges. The collection of papers focuses on the Mediterranean region and deals with aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems on the mainland and islands, ranging from marine and freshwater environments to coastal marshlands and forests. A wide diversity of animals and plants are featured, from marine fishes to marine and freshwater crustaceans, invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians, birds and mammals, to grasses, shrubs and trees. This book is a contribution to the scientific debate on how to deal with the historical dimensions of biological invasions, fostering dialogue between cultural and ecological explanations of environmental change, to inform environmental policy and management.

It has been organized in three sections: the first is the editors' introduction, in which they review the existing literature and highlight relevant concepts and ideas; the second is about alien species in the Mediterranean region; the third includes cases from other Mediterranean-type regions.

Inhalt

Introduction; Ana Isabel Queiroz, Simon Pooley.- 1. Mare Nostrum, Mare quod invaditur the history of bioinvasions in the Mediterranean Sea; Bella S. Galil et al.- 2. The apparently relentless spread of the major stomatopod and decapod alien species in the Mediterranean basin; Chiara Manfrin et al.- 3. Scourge in the Mediterranean. The Argentine ant invasion and the phytosanitary policies imposed in the 1920s; Ana Isabel Queiroz.- 4. Balearic Islands herpetological history: when aliens conquered these islands and what to do next; Iolanda Silva-Rocha et al.- 5. The Xenopus laevis invasion in Portugal: an improbable connection of science, Mediterranean climate and river neglect; Mónica Sousa et al.- 6. Ecologically benign invasions: The invasion and adaptation of common waxbills (Estrilda astrild) in Iberia; Gonçalo C. Cardoso, Luís Reino.- 7. Long term mammal introductions in Ionian and Aegeus Islands; Marco Massetti.- 8. Spartina invasors in Mediterranean marshes: past, present and future; Bernardo Duarte et al.- 9. The Akrotiri peninsula and its forest: Impacts and perceptions of a colonial legacy; J.M. Peyton et al.- 10. The entangled history of humans and introduced plants on South Africa's Cape Peninsula; Simon Pooley.- Indexes.