Biological invasion of native plant communities is a high-priority problem in the field of environmental management. Resource managers, biologists, and all those involved in plant communities must consider ecological interactions when assessing both the effects of plant invasion and the long-term effects of management. Sections of the book cover human perceptions of invading plants, assessment of ecological interactions, direct management, and regulation and advocacy. It also includes an appendix with descriptive data for many of the worst weeds.

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SECTION I. Human Perceptions.- 1. Defining Indigenous Species: An Introduction.- Defining Native Species.- Mechanisms for Change in Species Distributions.- Humans as a Component of the Natural.- Consequences of Choosing a Definition.- Conclusions.- 2. Defining Weeds of Natural Areas.- Definitions of Weed.- Definition and Examples of Natural-Area Weeds.- Adaptive Management of Natural-Area Weeds.- Conclusions.- 3. Potential Valuable Ecological Functions of Nonindigenous Plants.- Assessing Potential Ecological Values of Nonindigenous Plants.- Case Histories and Examples: Anecdotal, Hypothetical, and Otherwise.- Future Ecological Values of Nonindigenous Plants in a Changing Global Environment.- Conclusions.- SECTION II. Assessment of Ecological Interactions.- 4. Documenting Natural and Human-Caused Plant Invasions Using Paleoecological Methods.- Nature of the Paleoecological Record.- Paleoecological Assessments of Human-Related Plant Invasions.- Long-Term Records of Plant Invasions and Environmental Change.- Interactions Between Environmental Change and Human Disturbance.- Conclusions.- 5. Community Response to Plant Invasion.- Potential Mechanisms of Community Effects.- Possible Instances of Effects on Community Composition and Structure.- Invasion by Indigenous Species and the Paleoecological Record.- Generalizations.- Conclusions.- 6. Impacts of Invasive Plants on Community and Ecosystem Properties.- Primary Productivity.- Soil Nutrients.- Soil Water and Salinity.- Disturbance Regimes.- Community Dynamics.- Case Studies.- Conclusions.- 7. Animal-Mediated Dispersal and Disturbance: Driving Forces Behind Alien Plant Naturalization.- Naturalization.- Conclusions.- 8. Outlook for Plant Invasions: Interactions with Other Agents of Global Change.- Primary Agents of Global Change.- Interactions Among Factors.- Conclusion.- 9. Experimental Design for Plant Removal and Restoration.- Scientific Methods.- Principles of Design.- Experimental Design.- Applications: Managing Study Plots and Data.- Conclusions.- 10. Response of a Forest Understory Community to Experimental Removal of an Invasive Nonindigenous Plant (Alliaria petiolata, Brassicaceae).- Biology of the Study Species.- Methods.- Results.- Discussion.- Conclusions.- Appendix 10.1. Species list.- SECTION III. Direct Management.- 11. Management of Plant Invasions: Implicating Ecological Succession.- Succession: The Rise and Fall of Populations.- Plant Invasion: A Successional Interpretation.- The Decision to Manage.- The Response to Management.- A Paradigm for Management.- Conclusions.- 12. Methods for Management of Nonindigenous Aquatic P] ants.- Why Manage Nonindigenous Aquatic Plants?.- Management Techniques.- Developing an Integrated Management Plan.- Conclusions.- 13. Biological Control of Weeds in the United States and Canada.- Comparison of Control Methods.- Community-Level Effects of Invasion and Response to Biological Control.- Research Protocol.- Regulations and Safeguards.- Control of Major Weeds in the United States and Canada.- Future Directions of Biological Control.- Conclusions.- 14. Prioritizing Invasive Plants and Planning for Management.- Why Prioritize Invasive Plants?.- How to Prioritize.- Steps in the Decision-Making Process.- Decision-Making Tools.- A Generalized Nonindigenous Plant Ranking System.- Conclusions.- Appendix 14.1. A system for ranking nonindigenous plants.- SECTION IV. Regulation and Advocacy.- 15. Prevention of Invasive Plant Introductions on National and Local Levels.- Modes of Species Entry.- Current Laws.- Developing Predictive Methods.- Monitoring for New Invasions.- Preventing Invasions on the Local Scale.- Conclusions.- 16. Exotic Pest Plant Councils: Cooperating to Assess and Control Invasive Nonindigenous Plant Species.- Measuring the Impact of Invasions.- Overall Significance of Invasions.- The Need for Coordination.- Role of Exotic Pest Plant Councils.- Conclusions.- 17. Team Arundo: Interagency Cooperation to Control Giant Cane (Arundo donax).- Historical Setting.- Plant Biology.- The Problem.- The Solution? Team Arundo.- The Future.- Conclusions.- 18. A Multiagency Containment Program for Miconia (Miconia calvescens), an Invasive Tree in Hawaiian Rain Forests.- Distribution and Ecology of Miconia.- Agencies and Citizen Groups Involved in Miconia Control in Hawaii.- Strategies and Tactics.- Prospects for Success.- Appendix: Selected Plant Species Interfering with Resource Management Goals in North American Natural Areas.- References.