Biological Invasions in Coastal Habitats : Historical Ecology, Early Detection Plans and Global Warming

Abstract

The rise of exploration, colonization and expansion of human beings across continents and oceans triggered one of the most significantprocesses in the Earth´s ecological history: the massive movement and exchange of species from one region to another. Injust a few hundred years, accidentally and deliberately, people have transported an increasing number of species across naturalbiogeographic barriers (such as oceans and mountains) surpassing by far their natural capability for long-range dispersion. Eversince, the introduction of species by humans is a process that has increased with no evidence that the number of introduced specieswill diminish in the near future.