The second in a new series of practical manuals in plant conservation sponsored by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), UNESCO and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, this book is a handy, practical guide to a subject of increasing concern.

As with each of the books in the series, Plant Invaders: The threat to natural ecosystems aims to give an authoritative account of the subject in a jargon-free style. It should therefore be of interest not only to the biologists studying plant invasion, but also to land managers and others concerned with practical conservation.

Case studies of invasive species highlight specific problems from a wide range of countries, including North America, Africa, Australia, South and South East Asia, Europe, and the Pacific and Atlantic islands.

The book contains an invaluable list of invasive species with their countries of origin and regions of introduction. A full bibliography carries references to all cited articles and books.

Quentin Cronk is Lecturer in Vascular Plant Systematics at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh and at the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, Edinburgh University, UK. Janice Fuller is a PhD student in palaeoecology in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK.

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Plants and Protected Areas is the third in a series of practical manuals in plant conservation sponsored by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), UNESCO and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

The conservation of plant resources has sometimes been directed disproportionally towards seed banks and botanical gardens. However, a comprehensive conservation strategy should seek to complement this off-site approach with the in situ management of plant resources in their natural habitats. With the dual aims of facilitating better management of protected areas and illustrating innovative approaches to the conservation of plant resources within their original landscapes, the emphasis of Plants and Protected Areas is firmly on the practical conservation of plant biodiversity based on collaboration between conservation professionals and local communities. Drawing on concepts and methods from ecology, forestry, conservation biology, agricultural sciences, anthropology and ethnobiology, this book will be an invaluable practical aid to natural resource managers, environmental policy-makers and conservation biologists.

John Tuxill is a botanist and conservationist currently based in eastern Panama. He is also a Research Fellow with the Worldwatch Institute. Gary Paul Nabhan is Director of Science at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Arizona, USA.

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