Preface

Summary

The idea for this volume originated in 1983 at the first meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the program on the Ecology of Biological Invasions. At that time, the program had been only recently launched by the Scientific Committee On Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) as a major new initiative. Because at least half the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee were from regions of mediterranean climate and had interacted in the earlier SCOPE program on the Ecological Effects of Fire, the idea of a book on biogeographical aspects of invasions in mediterranean regions was agreed to as an attractive one. Now, almost six years later, that idea is a reality.

An association of mediterranean ecologists is also now a reality. The grouping is formalised as the International Society of Mediterranean Ecologists (ISOMED), the society being a member body of the International Union of Biological Sciences. If its previous publication record is any indication, mediterranean ecology as a discipline is destined to be an especially productive subdiscipline of botany, zoology and biogeography. We hope that publication of this volume adds to the already impressive publication lists on the subjects of mediterranean ecology and of biological invasions. Both topics have received considerable stimulus because of the interest and enthusiasm of our colleague Dr Harold A. Mooney.