Introduced species in Hawaii. biological effects and opportunities for ecological research

The articles in this volume illustrate that the Hawaiian islands are perhaps the most extraordinary living museum of evolution on the planet. However, Hawaii's value as a museum has diminished as the products of millions of years of evolutionary radiation have been lost to habitat destruction and biological invasions by exotic species. Human-caused habitat destruction can largely be controlled in parks and preserves, but exotic species do not respect park boundaries and can degrade native communities within protected areas. On the other hand, invasions by exotic species provide a dynamic laboratory of ecological processes at the same time as they erode the value of the evolutionary museum.