Introduction: Why Novel Ecosystems?

This introductory chapter of Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order provides a gist of the contents discussed in the book and explains the way the book is organized. The Galapagos case is one of many treated in this book, and from these it draws broader lessons and approaches. The book presents a challenge to the conservation and environmental management communities. It has its origins in a workshop held on Pender Island, British Columbia, Canada in May 2011. The book is divided into seven parts that collect together chapters within broad themes. It uses the framework presented by Hobbs as a starting point in which varying degrees of alteration of abiotic and/or biotic components result in systems that move away from their historical configuration and dynamics into different configurations. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.