We hear a great deal about ?EUR??,,????'??invasive species?EUR??,,????'?? and admonitions of what to plant and not to plant. In fact in this issue, there is a news item on the Pennsylvania governor?EUR??,,????'???s office creating an Invasive Species Council (see p. 215).

Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience looks critically at the prevailing views on invasion biology.

The findings of the work include:

There is no credible evidence for an ?EUR??,,????'??invasive species crisis.?EUR??,,????'??

All biota are accustomed to receiving new members and are rapidly integrated and ecologically indistinguishable from natives.

The herbicide and regulatory industries are exploiting invader fears and have corrupted the investigation of dispersal and the practice of ecological restoration.

The increased rate of anthropogenic dispersal (?EUR??,,????'??having its roots in the activities of man?EUR??,,????'??) is a natural corollary of increased rates of anthropogenic disturbance, and is not a harmful process, but a beneficial mitigation.

The author cites many flora relegated to ?EUR??,,????'??invader species?EUR??,,????'?? status. Purple loosestrife has been called an ?EUR??,,????'??aggressive Eurasian plant that can overrun a North American wetland and reduce its wildlife value to roughly that of a parking lot?EUR??,,????'?? (Bright 1998). The National Invasive Species Council places it high on their list of invasive species, however, a number of native species are more likely to grow in plots containing purple loosestrife (Treberg & Husband 1999).

Eucalyptus is said to invade and destroy diverse native ecosystems by suppressing understorey and having no value to native wildlife, as well as being an explosive fire hazard (Bright 1998, Williams 2002). However, eucalyptus understorey in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area created a microclimate which ?EUR??,,????'??permits some native herbs, shrubs and tress to grow on site that did not support these species before?EUR??,,????'?? (Stein & Moxley 1992). The eucalyptus understorey included 36 species. The author notes that in spite of lack of credible justification, hundreds or thousands of hectares of eucalyptus are being removed as ?EUR??,,????'??invaders,?EUR??,,????'?? including at such controversial projects as Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

Eucalyptus were blamed for spreading the Oct. 1991 Oakland Hills fire, yet the personal communication of one firefighter indicated the trees shielding homes from burning debris and often eucalyptus were untouched while neighboring homes were incinerated (Larson 1991).

Carrotwood is called a rapidly expanding invader in south Florida (Lockhart 1991), yet the seeds are eaten by many species of native birds and small mammals, and carrotwood stands were found to have higher numbers of plant species than uninvaded areas (Theodoropoulos 2003).

The author asserts that Kudzu, the ?EUR??,,????'??vine that ate the South,?EUR??,,????'?? does not destroy the native spring flora, with which it coexists, and gives many other examples.