Clive Anthony Stace BSc, PhD, DSc graduated from the University of London in 1959 and gained his doctorate at the Natural History Museum, London in 1963. For the next 41 years he carried out research and teaching at the Universities of Manchester and Leicester, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Plant Taxonomy. He was President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles from 1987 to 1989. He has produced about 200 scientific papers and books, including the New Flora of the British Isles (1991). He was elected Honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society in 2004.Michael John Crawley FRS is an ecologist and Emeritus Professor of Biology at Imperial College London. His research focuses on plant ecology, with particular emphasis on the relationship between plants and their herbivores, and on the way that alien plants modify plant community dynamics. He serves as BSBI vice county recorder for Berkshire and for East Sutherland.

‘One of the greatest New Naturalists of recent times … a major contribution to British natural history and popular science. A tremendous work on an important subject.’ British WildlifePraise for the New Naturalist series:‘Taken either individually or as a whole, they are one of the proudest achievements of modern publishing’ The Sunday Times‘The series is an amazing achievement’ The Times Literary Supplement‘The books are glorious to own’ Independent

Clive Anthony Stace BSc, PhD, DSc graduated from the University of London in 1959 and gained his doctorate at the Natural History Museum, London in 1963. For the next 41 years he carried out research and teaching at the Universities of Manchester and Leicester, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Plant Taxonomy. He was President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles from 1987 to 1989. He has produced about 200 scientific papers and books, including the New Flora of the British Isles (1991). He was elected Honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society in 2004.Michael John Crawley FRS is an ecologist and Emeritus Professor of Biology at Imperial College London. His research focuses on plant ecology, with particular emphasis on the relationship between plants and their herbivores, and on the way that alien plants modify plant community dynamics. He serves as BSBI vice county recorder for Berkshire and for East Sutherland.

‘One of the greatest New Naturalists of recent times … a major contribution to British natural history and popular science. A tremendous work on an important subject.’ British WildlifePraise for the New Naturalist series:‘Taken either individually or as a whole, they are one of the proudest achievements of modern publishing’ The Sunday Times‘The series is an amazing achievement’ The Times Literary Supplement‘The books are glorious to own’ Independent