Invasives vs Endemics

Plants, animals and microorganisms in a natural biological community constitute a web of co-adopted species which can sustain themselves without any human input. In such a community, survival of any organism is due to the interaction between the individuals and the environment. However, man has drastically modified most of the natural ecosystem globally i.e., habitat destruction, over exploitation and environmental degradation. Destruction of any one ecosystem can lead to the collapse of another, thereby affecting life-forms. Massive destruction of ecosystem worldwide comes at a time, when our knowledge about the structure and functional dynamics and even taxonomy of many tropical vegetation is still rudimentary. Information on tropical vegetation is needed because of its potential usefulness in understanding the relative extent of plant diversity and its maintenance and also implication for conservation and management. The information provided in the book can be utilized for time to time assessment of invasive and endemic species diversity, studying their impacts, climate changes, etc.