Invasive Plant Species Distribution

Article diversity MDPI Composition, Distribution, and Factors Affecting Invasive Plants in Grasslands of Guizhou Province of Southwest China Qin Yang 1, Baocheng Jin 10, Xuechun Zhao 1, Chao Chen 1, Hua Cheng 2, Huanhuan Wang 1, Dengming He 1, Yaoyao Zhang1, Jing Peng ³, Zhongcai Li 3 and Min Han ³,* 3 check for updates Citation: Yang, Q.; Jin, B.; Zhao, X.; Chen, C.; Cheng, H.; Wang, H.; He, D.; Zhang, Y.; Peng, J.; Li, Z.; et al. Composition, Distribution, and Factors Affecting Invasive Plants in Grasslands of Guizhou Province of Southwest China. Diversity 2022, 14, 167. https://doi.org/10.3390/ d14030167 Academic Editors: Michael Wink and Anatoliy A. Khapugin 1 2 3 * College of Animal Science, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China; [email protected] (Q.Y.); [email protected] (B.J.); [email protected] (X.Z.); [email protected] (C.C.); [email protected] (H.W.); [email protected] (D.H.); [email protected] (Y.Z.) School of Tourism, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453000, China; [email protected] Guizhou Institute of Natural Resources Survey and Planning, Guiyang 550001, China; [email protected] (J.P.); [email protected] (Z.L.) Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +86-139-8502-5461 Abstract: Southwest China is an important route for invasive species. In this study, 49 invasive plants of 15 families and 41 genera were found within 373 grassland sampling sites of Guizhou Province, a typical karst mountainous region with a high invasion risk located in Southwest China. Invasive plants could be found within over 90% of the grassland sampling sites, and malignant invasive species were found in 60% of the sites. In about 30% of the sampling sites, more than one malignant species coexisted. The malignant invasive species were mainly distributed in the southwestern part of Guizhou Province. Their distribution patterns were affected by environmental and traffic factors; they preferred areas with low elevation, high temperature, high rainfall, high soil nutrient content, and traffic accessibility and could adversely affect plant cover and biomass. Conversely, seriously invasive species and other low-level invasive species had a positive or neutral effect on grassland communities. Therefore, the focus of invasive plant control measures should be on malignant invasive species. Specific control policies and practices, especially in areas with resource-rich environments and well-developed traffic networks, should be carried out to facilitate grassland ecosystem sustainability and to prevent the spread of invasive species to inland China. Keywords: Ageratina adenophora; biodiversity; invasion risk; karst; soil nutrient content; traffic accessibility Received: 3 February 2022 Accepted: 24 February 2022 Published: 26 February 2022 Publisher's Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. CC BY Copyright: 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1. Introduction Alien invasive species, introduced outside of their natural range either intentionally or unintentionally by human activities [1], can significantly impact ecosystem functions [2–4] and biodiversity [5-8]. In particular, this can lead to a reduction in spontaneous species useful to humans (e.g., crop wild relatives) [9] and can cause economic damage to the in- vaded habitats [10,11]. This means effective and specific management measures are needed to facilitate the sustainability of ecosystems [12-14], which must include the involvement of plant systematics and an improvement of the floristic knowledge on invasive plant species [15]. Grasslands cover more than 13% of the global land surface [16-18] and are susceptible to alien invasive species. Resource and traffic accessibility are two key factors affecting biological invasion [19-21], and resource-rich habitats often experience more invasion than resource-poor ones [19,22]. For example, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. benefits more from nitrogen addition than its native competitor Spartina pectinata Bosc ex Link [23]. Previous research conducted in the Czech Republic also found that alpine- subalpine grasslands at high elevations are more resistant to alien plant invasions than other grassland types [24]. Traffic networks could promote the spread of invasive plants Diversity 2022, 14, 167. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14030167 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity

View entire presentation