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How useful are urban island ecosystems for defining invader patterns?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2005

PHILIPPE CLERGEAU
Affiliation:
INRA SCRIBE and UMR Ecobio, avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes cedex, France
SOLÈNE CROCI
Affiliation:
INRA SCRIBE and UMR Ecobio, avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes cedex, France
JUKKA JOKIMÄKI
Affiliation:
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, PO Box 122, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland

Extract

Biological invasions are pervasive, alter ecosystem sustainability, and can reduce native biological diversity (Vitousek et al. 1996). Ecologists are scrambling to predict where and when new invaders may strike (Lodge 1993; Fagan et al. 2002). Urbanization has created a number of new ecological niches which, after remaining empty for some time, are increasingly being colonized or invaded by vertebrates (Erz 1966). One of the major disputes in evolutionary biology concerns the rate at which species evolve to occupy new niches (Diamond 1986). How quickly are animals adapting to these new habitats and what makes them successful colonists?

Type
Comment
Copyright
© 2004 Foundation for Environmental Conservation

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