The progress of interdisciplinarity in invasion science

The progress of interdisciplinarity in invasion science

Interdisciplinarity is needed to gain knowledge of the ecology of invasive species and invaded ecosystems, and of the human dimensions of biological invasions. We combine a quantitative literature review with a qualitative historical narrative to document the progress of interdisciplinarity in invas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ambio 2017-05, Vol.46 (4), p.428-442
Main Authors: Vaz, Ana S., Kueffer, Christoph, Kull, Christian A., Richardson, David M., Schindler, Stefan, Muñoz-Pajares, A. Jesús, Vicente, Joana R., Martins, João, Hui, Cang, Kühn, Ingolf, Honrado, João P.
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Atmospheric Sciences
Culture
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Ecosystem studies
Ecosystems
Environment
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Environmental Management
Interdisciplinary aspects
Interdisciplinary Communication
Introduced Species
Native species
Nonnative species
Physical Geography
REVIEW
Science
Scientometrics
Social sciences
Society
Valuation
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Summary:Interdisciplinarity is needed to gain knowledge of the ecology of invasive species and invaded ecosystems, and of the human dimensions of biological invasions. We combine a quantitative literature review with a qualitative historical narrative to document the progress of interdisciplinarity in invasion science since 1950. Our review shows that 92.4% of interdisciplinary publications (out of 9192) focus on ecological questions, 4.4% on social ones, and 3.2% on social-ecological ones. The emergence of invasion science out of ecology might explain why interdisciplinarity has remained mostly within the natural sciences. Nevertheless, invasion science is attracting social–ecological collaborations to understand ecological challenges, and to develop novel approaches to address new ideas, concepts, and invasion-related questions between scholars and stakeholders. We discuss ways to reframe invasion science as a field centred on interlinked social–ecological dynamics to bring science, governance and society together in a common effort to deal with invasions.
ISSN:0044-7447
1654-7209