Invasion Biology: Hypotheses and Evidence

There are many hypotheses describing the interactions involved in biological invasions, but it is largely unknown whether they are backed up by empirical evidence. This book, Invasion Biology: Hypotheses and Evidence, fills that gap by developing a tool for assessing research hypotheses and applying it to twelve invasion hypotheses, using the hierarchy-of-hypotheses (HoH) approach, and mapping the connections between theory and evidence.

In Part 1, an overview chapter of invasion biology is followed by an introduction to the HoH approach and short chapters by science theorists and philosophers who comment on the approach.

Part 2 outlines the invasion hypotheses and their interrelationships. These include biotic resistance and island susceptibility hypotheses, disturbance hypothesis, invasional meltdown hypothesis, enemy release hypothesis, evolution of increased competitive ability and shifting defence hypotheses, tens rule, phenotypic plasticity hypothesis, Darwin’s naturalization and limiting similarity hypotheses and the propagule pressure hypothesis. Part 3 provides a synthesis and suggests future directions for invasion research

Contents: Part I: Introduction to invasion biology and the hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach Chapter 1: Invasion biology: searching for predictions and prevention, and avoiding lost causes Chapter 2: The hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach Chapter 3: Hierarchy of hypotheses or hierarchy of predictions? Clarifying key concepts in ecological research Chapter 4: Mapping theoretical and evidential landscapes in ecological science: Levins’ virtue trade-off and the hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach Chapter 5: A hierarchy of hypotheses or a network of models Chapter 6: The hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach updated – a toolbox for structuring and analysing theory, research and evidence Part II: Hypothesis network and 12 focal hypotheses Chapter 7: A network of invasion hypotheses Chapter 8: Biotic resistance and island susceptibility hypotheses Chapter 9: Disturbance hypothesis Chapter 10: Invasional meltdown hypothesis Chapter 11: Enemy release hypothesis Chapter 12: Evolution of increased competitive ability and shifting defence hypotheses Chapter 13: Tens rule Chapter 14: Phenotypic plasticity hypothesis Chapter 15: Darwin’s naturalisation and limiting similarity hypotheses Chapter 16: Propagule pressure hypothesis Part III: Synthesis and outlook Chapter 17: Synthesis Chapter 18: Conclusions and outlook