Invasive alien plants in China: diversity and ecological insights

Abstract

China's current invasive alien plant species were analyzed with regard to their floristic status, biological attributes and invasion status elsewhere. Most of the 270 species identified were annuals, followed by perennial herbs. Woody perennials made only about 10% of the species. The invasives were comprised of 59 families, the largest being Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Brassicaceae. The genera with most invasive species were Amaranthus, Ipomoea, and Solanum. Most of the species originated from the New World, notably from South America. About one-third of the species were serious invaders of natural habitats in countries other than China. The proportion of invasive alien plants in province floras ranged from 0.5 to 3.8%, absolute numbers from nine to 117 species per province. Density of invasive species was correlated positively with native species density at provincial scale. The results demonstrate that in China invasive plants are present throughout the country, with a particularly high species richness in the Southeast. The ecological diversity of invasive plants suggests wide ranging impacts which need to be assessed.

East Asian Species in Alien Flora of European Russia

“…Or na mental introduction named to be the main pathway for alien species and ornamental plants are among the most im portant invaders in many parts of the world (Lambdon et al 2008, Ööpik et al 2008, Weber et al 2008. For woody plants, Křivánek et al (2005) in their study used number of sites in which a species was planted as a surrogate for pro pagule pressure that is a crucial factor of naturalization pro cess (Lonsdale 1999.…”

“…For ins tance, the mountains of China and the Himalayas are the origin of most cultivated and naturalizing Cotoneaster spe cies (Dickoré & Kasparek 2010). In addition, recent de cades are marked by the growth of trade relations and the trade turnover with some East Asian countries, especially with China, which is characterized by the rapid economic de velopment; all this may promote the appearance and the sub sequent spread of new alien species from this region (Weber et al 2008).…”

Plantas no nativas naturalizadas de la península de Baja California, México

“…Esta distribución taxonómica concuerda con el patrón encontrado en múltiples regiones del mundo (Pyšek, 1998), en diversas regiones de Norteamérica (Villaseñor y Espinosa-García, 2004;Van Devender et al, 2009;Hrusa et al, 2002;Dean et al, 20089), Sudamérica (Arroyo et al, 2000;Ugarte et al, 2011), Europa (Pyšek et al, 2002;Lambdon et al, 2008;Celesti-Grapow et al, 2009) o Asia (Weber et al, 2008;Wu et al, 2010;Khuroo et al, 2012). La abundancia de especies exóticas pertenecientes a las familias Asteraceae y Poaceae está posiblemente relacionada con el hecho de que son dos de las familias más numerosas (Pyšek, 1998).…”

“…Las herbáceas son la forma de vida dominante en la península, patrón que suele encontrarse en otras fl oras exóti-cas (Pyšek et al, 2002;Weber et al, 2008;Lambdon et al, 2008;Van Devender et al, 2009;Arianoutsou et al, 2010). La aridez de la península constituye sin duda una fuerte limitante para el establecimiento de formas de vida arbóreas y arbustivas (Vilà et al, 1999).…”

LifeCLEF 2016: Multimedia Life Species Identification Challenges

“…These species represent today a major economic cost to our society (estimated at nearly 12 billion euros a year in Europe) and one of the main threats to biodiversity conservation [71]. This cost can even be more important at the country level, such as in China where it is evaluated to be about 15 billion US dollars annually [72], and more than 34 billion US dollars in the US [52]. The early detection of the appearance of these species, as well as the monitoring of changes in their distribution and phenology, are key elements to manage them, and reduce the cost of their management.…”