About the Author: David M. Richardson is Professor in the Department of Botany & Zoology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and is Deputy Director: Science Strategy at the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology. He is one of the most prolific authors in invasion ecology and was awarded the 2006 Hans Sigrist Prize for his work in this field. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and since 1998 has been Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Diversity and Distributions (Wiley-Blackwell).