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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 environmentalchallenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.

Humans have moved organisms around the world for centuries but it is only relatively recently that invasion ecology has grown into a mainstream research field. This book examines both the spread and impact dynamics of invasive species, placing the science of invasion biology on a new, more rigorous, theoretical footing, and proposing a concept of adaptive networks as the foundation for future research. Biological invasions are considered not as simple actions of invaders and reactions of invaded ecosystems, but as co-evolving complex adaptive systems with emergent features of network complexity and invasibility. Invasion Dynamics focuses on the ecology of invasive species and their impacts in recipient social-ecological systems. It discusses not only key advances and challenges within the traditional domain of invasion ecology, but introduces approaches, concepts, and insights from many other disciplines such as complexity science, systems science, and ecology more broadly. It will be of great value to invasion biologists analyzing spread and/or impact dynamics as well as other ecologists interested in spread processes or habitat management.

This unique book brings together a wealth of data on the botanical, ethno-medicinal and pharmacological aspects of over 500 species of Asian medicinal orchids. It starts off by explaining the role and limitations of complimentary and herbal medicines, and how traditional Asian medicine differs from Western, “scientific” medicine. The different Asian medical traditions are described, as well as their modes of preparing herbal remedies. The core of the book presents individual medicinal orchid species arranged by genera. Each species is identified by its official botanical name, synonyms, and local names. Its distribution, habitat and flowering season, uses and pharmacology are described. An overview sums up the research findings on all species within each genus. Clinical observations are discussed whenever available, and possible therapeutic applications are highlighted. The book closes with chapters on the conservation of medicinal orchids and on the role of randomized clinical trials.