Species invasions have become a major threat to global biodiversity. We currently lack a general theory of species invasions that allows us to make useful predictions about when and where invasions will occur, whether they will be successful, and whether they will alter ecosystem function in invaded habitats. One line of enquiry in developing such a theory is to focus on the characteristics of successful invaders. A second, complementary approach is to examine habitats of interest more closely and ask how the properties of the habitat that is being invaded affect the likelihood of invasion success. In this paper, I consider the importance of habitat shape (also termed "habitat topology" or "habitat geometry") as a variable affecting the dispersal and... |