Invasion biology

Terminology

While invasive species can be studied within many subfields of biology, most research on invasive organisms has been in ecology and biogeography. Much of the work has been influenced by Charles Elton's 1958 book The Ecology of Invasion by Animals and Plants which creates a generalized picture of biological invasions. Studies remained sparse until the 1990s. This research, largely field observational studies, has disproportionately been concerned with terrestrial plants. The rapid growth of the field has driven a need to standardize the language used to describe invasive species and events. Despite this, little standard terminology exists. The field lacks any official designation but is commonly referred to as "invasion ecology" or more generally "invasion biology". This lack of standard terminology has arisen due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, which borrows terms from disciplines such as agriculture, zoology, and pathology, as well as due to studies being performed in isolation.