Biological invasions are recognized as one of the greatest threats to the ecological and economic well-being of our planet. To counteract current invasions and to prevent new invasions, we need to unravel the causes of invasiveness. Biological invasions are, however, highly complex because they involve different stages - introduction, establishment and spread - that might be subject to different rules. Moreover, biological invasions involve many different taxonomic groups, such as plants, vertebrates and invertebrates, and different ecosystems, both aquatic and terrestrial ones. As a consequence, invasion biology now consists of several subdisciplines focussing on different taxonomic groups and ecosystems. Communication between students in these subdisciplines is indispensable in the search for general rules in invasion biology.
In this workshop, we will bring together some of the leading invasion biologists and students/postdocs working with different taxonomic groups in different ecosystems and focussing at different stages of the invasion process. The students/postdocs and the invited invasion biologists will discuss similarities and differences between taxa as different as plants, vertebrates and invertebrates at different steps of the invasion process. Finally, we will identify open research questions that should bring us closer towards finding general rules in invasion biology.