2nd ed. 2020 Edition
by Charles S. Elton (Author), Daniel Simberloff (Contributor), Anthony Ricciardi (Contributor)
Elton sought to articulate more
explicitly his vision of an entire field of invasion science. The 1958
book, aimed at an educated lay audience, was almost wholly descriptive,
dominated by striking examples of the nature and scope of particular
invasions beginning with the seven examples detailed in Chapter 1. From
the materials in the proof copy and other sources, we can imagine a new
edition would also have targeted biologists and been somewhat more
technical and prescriptive. In autobiographical notes he penned near the
end of his life, Elton wrote regarding EIAP, “This whole subject has deep significance for the study of plant and animal communities and their balance (or unbalance),”19 and indeed many of the reprints and notes refer to interactions among species and community-wide effects.
