Background & Aim: In response to the rapid global change, a growing number of species have been undergoing range shifts, which includes two main processes: one is the non-native species invasion mediated by human activities, and the other is the natural range expansion of native species. There are both similarities and differences between these two processes. It is thus critically important to distinguish their similarities and differences to develop scientific strategies for invasive species prevention and native species conservation.
Progresses: By comparing the non-native species invasion and native species range expansion, we found that both non-native species invasion and native species range expansion are increasing under global change. However, there are obvious differences in potential drivers, spatial-temporal scales, occurring rates, species traits predicting the process, and impacts on new ranges between the two processes. The non-native species invasion usually occurs over long distance with the aid of human activity, spreads rapidly after establishment, high predictive ability of species traits, and poses a serious threat to local biodiversity. By contrast, range expansion of native species usually occurs at smaller spatial scales, slower occurring rates, and lower predictive ability of species traits, thus generally has less impacts on new regions.
Prospects: As it is difficult to accurately determine the potential impacts of new-arrival species on recipient habitats, long-term monitoring and studies assessing the biological and ecological effects of these two processes on local population dynamics, community structure, and ecosystem function are needed, which is important to develop schemes of non-native species mitigation and native biodiversity conservation.
Background & Aims: Amphibians and reptiles are important indicators of ecosystem health, and they are vulnerable to changes in the environment. Many of their populations are undergoing rapid decline and species extinction in the worldwide. A recent assessment of Red List of China’s Vertebrates found that 37.05% of amphibians and 30.5% of reptiles are threatened. Therefore, building a national biodiversity monitoring network, to research and analyze the trend and threats of amphibians and reptiles is a prerequisite for conservation. As part of the Chinese Biodiversity Monitoring and Research Network (Sino BON), the Sino BON-Amphibian & Reptile has covered 11 key areas with rich biodiversity and high habitat heterogeneity across China. This program aims to combine intensive field surveys and ecological modeling techniques to evaluate population dynamics and community structures of amphibian and reptile species in the study areas.
Review Results: Currently, the Sino BON-Amphibian & Reptile adheres to focusing on the research of amphibian and reptile diversity. A total of 16 species were newly discovered in China, including 13 new species and 3 national new record species. Significant progress has been made in the national need for the protection of Critically Endangered amphibian (CR) Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) and Endangered (EN) amphibian Taliang crocodile newt (Liangshantriton taliangensis), the environmental DNA (eDNA) technology and radio tracking technology applied in wild, the ecological impact of desertification habitats on reptiles, and invasive alien species, which have provided strong scientific support for protecting biodiversity of amphibians and reptiles in China.
Prospects: For further progresses, it is still necessary to continuously enhance monitoring and research on amphibians and reptiles, strengthen monitoring network construction and application of advanced technologies, emphasize the protection of amphibians and reptiles from the level of laws and regulations, establish and optimize the protected areas, and implement the necessary ex situ and in situ conservation, so as to achieve more effective protection of rare amphibian and reptile resources.
Background & Aims: There are 1,591 fish species in China’s inland waters, which accounts for 10% of the inland water fish species in the world. However, the development of the fish diversity monitoring in China’s inland water has still lagged and the long-term continuous and comprehensive monitoring networks and platforms has been scared. The China inland water fish biodiversity observation network (CIWF-BON) is the first nationwide network built for monitoring fish diversity of the inland waters in China. The purpose of this paper is to give a thorough overview of the achievement and to highlight the operations and duties of CIWF-BON.
Progress: The network has established the first national database of the inland water fish biodiversity and collects and preserves more than ten thousand fish specimens and the fish diversity data from important river basins, including the data sets of fish species diversity, early resources, genetic diversity, and biology of important fish species, and so on. The network also has established technical specifications for monitoring fish diversity in inland waters in China based on the synthesis of the conventional and novel monitoring methods to promote the standardization of collecting fish diversity data and enhance the possibility of analyzing large-scale data. The Chishui River Rare and Endemic Fish Conservation and Aquatic Biodiversity Observation and Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been built to further monitor the fish diversity of the Chishui River and undertake the research on the protection and restoration of fish resources in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River basin.
Findings: Based on the long-term monitoring data, the network has systematically researched the distribution pattern, change, and the impact factors of the fish communities in the important rivers, the characteristics of reproductive biology and reproductive impact mechanisms of the endangered fish Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), the environmental conditions of the four major Chinese carps reproduction in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as the biological characteristics of the endemic fish. The results show that the human activities, such as overfishing, dams, and invasive species, have caused significant changes in fish community structure of the important river basins. Large water conservancy and hydropower projects in the mainstream of the Yangtze River have caused the sharp decline in the population of Chinese sturgeon and seriously influence the breeding activities, making the wild population critically endangered. After the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the eggs and larval of the four major Chinese carps (FMCC) are significantly decreased from 1997 to 2012 in the middle Yangtze River. The first spawning dates of FMCC in the Yichang reach delayed by about 21 days and the number of the eggs is changed with first decreasing and then increasing. The results lay the data foundation and provide the scientific evidence for the important national missions and policies, such as assessing the ecological impact of the Three Gorges Project, the ten-year fishing closure on the Yangtze River, the ecological and environmental protection of the Chishui River, and the conservation of the Chinese sturgeon, and so on.
Suggestions: To advancing the construction of the national observation network, we suggest to increase investment and establish observation stations, to promote data sharing and regional cooperation, and to conduct research and application of novel technologies and methods.
Aims: Butterflies hold global significance as biological resources that are sensitive to environmental changes, making them an important indicator species for monitoring biodiversity and reflecting environmental changes. This study aims to investigate the interannual variability of butterfly communities and the interaction of the larvae-plant relationship at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), elucidating the change patterns in community structure and diversity.
Methods: Three distinct habitats were selected, and butterfly diversity was investigated alongside 2 km transects sampling over a period of six years. Moreover, butterfly larvae and their feeding on plants were identified and recorded.
Results: A total of 15,826 butterflies belonging to 5 families, 146 genera, and 251 species were recorded on three transect lines at XTBG. The Nymphalidae exhibited the highest numbers of 56 genera and 112 species, while the Papilionidae had the lowest with 8 genera and 21 species. The Nymphalidae also showed the highest Shannon and Simpson diversities, while those of Pieridae were the lowest but exhibited the highest species dominance. The community included a total of 20 dominant species, 100 rare species and 131 common species. In the adult stage, the dynamic occurrence of butterfly species and individual abundance peaks occurred during the rainy season, with no significant interannual climatic impact on species diversity of the butterfly community. Both species composition and abundance showed no significant variation among the years, with interannual beta diversity demonstrating stable species overlap. Furthermore, butterfly larvae often feed on species-specific plants, forming feeding networks with native plants that display higher weighted nestedness and robustness compared to the networks formed with non-native plants, suggesting that the larvae-native plant network is more stable.
Conclusion: This research sheds light on the interannual variation pattern of butterfly community structure and diversity at XTBG. Our results showed that the butterfly communities exhibited interannual stability. The larvae-plant networks were constructed to exhibit the high specialization and had different structural traits between larvae-native and larvae-non-native plants. The results of this study provides scientific basis for the protection of butterfly diversity and supports the need for further research on the butterfly and plant interactions.
To facilitate revising and updating the checklist of vascular plants in Tianjin, we provided basic information on the status of wild vascular plant resources there, furthering the development of biodiversity conservation. We updated the checklist of wild vascular plants in Tianjin based on previous research by further examining historical collections, newly published records, data analysis, and the field investigation results of authors published over the past 20 years. The checklist was compiled in accordance with the latest classification of vascular plants. The distribution of each species was verified at the county and municipal level based on the information of voucher specimens (preserved specimens that serve as a verifiable and permanent record of wildlife). The present checklist recorded 996 species (including infraspecific taxa) in total, belonging to 519 genera in 135 families. There are 4 species of lycophytes in 1 genus and 1 family, 31 species of pteridophytes in 18 genera and 12 families, 2 species of gymnosperms in 2 genera and 2 families, and 959 species of angiosperms in 498 genera and 120 families. For lycophytes, the only family is Selaginellaceae (4 species). For pteridophytes, the top three largest families are Pteridaceae (7), Dryopteridaceae (4), and Woodsiaceae (4). For angiosperms, the top 10 largest families are Asteraceae (123), Poaceae (87), Fabaceae (67), Cyperaceae (41), Rosaceae (40), Amaranthaceae (36), Lamiaceae (28), Polygonaceae (27), Ranunculaceae (22) and Brassicaceae (22). The top ten largest genera are Artemisia (21), Cyperus (14), Amaranthus (14), Persicaria (14), Potentilla (12), Carex (12), Euphorbia (11), Cynanchum (10), Aster (9), and Saussurea (9), respectively. The wild plant species in Tianjin are predominantly common species with wide distribution. However, according to literature and specimen records, eight wild plant species are in the list of National Key Protected Wild Plant Species. The number of invasive plant species has continuously increased in recent years. Meanwhile, field surveys of rare and endangered vascular plants and invasive plants in Tianjin were insufficient; therefore, we recommend increasing the breadth and depth of follow-up field surveys. Furthermore, we call for strengthening specialized taxonomic studies on particular families and genera, which will help to further revise and update the checklist.
Database/Dataset Profile
Aims: The Chishui River basin in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River harbors a rich array of macroinvertebrate diversity. While the area’s importance has been acknowledged and is included in the National Rare and Endemic Fish Nature Reserve, our understanding of its macroinvertebrate diversity and dynamics remains limited. Importantly, continuous, seasonal macroinvertebrate surveys of the entire Chishui River basin have not been undertaken. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of species diversity in this system and updated the species list based on the combined datasets of 2019-2021 seasonal investigations. Methods: Macroinvertebrates were sampled from the main stream and tributaries in autumn (October 2019), winter (December 2019), summer (July 2020) and spring (March 2021). One-way ANOVA was used to examine the differences of abundance, biomass and ecological indices between different reaches and different seasons. Principal co-ordinates analysis (PCoA) and PERMANOVA were adopted to test the variation of community structures among different reaches and seasons. Redundancy analysis was applied to identify the key environmental factors and spatial factors that significantly influence the community structure of macroinvertebrates. The potential drivers of observed community patterns and proposed protective strategies and actions were subsequently identified. Results: A total of 209 species of 186 genera and 86 families in 22 orders and 5 phyla were recorded with the exclusively dominant species being aquatic insects: Ephemera sp., Heptagenia sp., Polamanthus sp., Baetis sp., Naucoridae sp. and Polypedilum sp. Indexes of species richness, abundance and measures of diversity (Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Simpson dominance index, Pielou evenness index) revealed substantial spatial-temporal differences, with the largest in spring and in the upstream region. PCoA showed that the macroinvertebrate community structure varied significantly between seasons and sections of the river. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that five environmental (substrate, altitude, velocity, dissolved oxygen, NH4+-N) and four large-scale spatial factors (PCNM1, PCNM2, PCNM3, PCNM6) were the key drivers underpinning community variation. Variation partitioning analysis indicated that environmental filtering had a stronger effect on community variation than spatial structuring.Conclusion: To rehabilitate and protect the river’s macroinvertebrate diversity, we recommend the implementation of multiple protective strategies and preventive actions. These include at the very least, the introduction of a ten-year fishing ban, continuous afforestation practices, and regulation of illegal mining and liquor-making industries to promote recovery of the natural hydrological rhythm and riparian zones. State-of-the-art methods to prevent and control invasive alien species, and the establishment of effective prediction and risk evaluation mechanisms are also recommended.
Aim: In the process of long-term mutual adaptation with their living environment, Dulong people have been relying on biological resources to maintain their survival and life. They have accumulated a lot of traditional knowledge on the use of bio-resources and the protection of the ecological environment. The purpose of this study is to record the traditional knowledge, explore the ecological concepts, analyze the threats, and promote them to provide better services for the protection of biocultural diversity in the Dulongjiang region.
Method: In this study, ethnobiological method including semi-structure interview and participatory observations were used to investigate the traditional knowledge associated with biodiversity in Dulong community, and to analyze the ecological thoughts.
Results: The results showed that the Dulong people had rich traditional knowledge, involving a total of 399 species of organisms. Among them, 209 plant (and fungi) species were collected for livelihood, 179 species for animal husbandry, 26 for timber and construction, 34 for fishing and hunting, 25 for farming, and 31 for firewood. The traditional livelihood methods of the Dulong people, such as collecting, breeding, fishing and hunting, fuelwood collection and farming practices, contain sustainable ecological ideas, which are conducive to the conservation of local biocultural diversity.
Recommendations With the rapid economic development and the improvement of transportation, traditional livelihoods and knowledge in Dulongjiang area are facing different opportunities and challenges. For example, cultural shock, intergenerational discontinuity, the cultivation of a single crop and orientation of ecological policy, etc. It is necessary to conduct a more comprehensive investigation, recording and cataloging of traditional knowledge through ethnobotanical methods, follow by research with modern ethnobotanical methods to provide guidance, using new technology to explain the scientificity of traditional knowledge, strengthen the protection, inheritance and benefit sharing of traditional knowledge, and tap the essence of the traditional livelihood of the Dulong to promote the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable development services, and ecological civilization in the Dulongjiang area.
Hainan Province is an area with a large contiguous area of tropical rainforest in China. It is one of the key areas of biodiversity with the largest tropical rainforest area and the most abundant species diversity in China. During 2012-2015, the Inventory of Plant Species Diversity of Hainan, List of Species in Hainan, and Illustrated Handbook of Plants in Hainan were published in succession. The progress of related cataloging is relatively advanced in China. However, with the in-depth study of Hainan plants, the names of some vascular plant taxa originally recorded have changed after new taxonomic revision. The classification of families and genera and their names need to be adjusted. At the same time, the original classification system also need to be updated. Based on the List of Species in Hainan and Illustrated Handbook of Plants in Hainan, combined with experience from many years of practical field investigation, we systematically searched the literature to fill the gaps in the existing catalog data, checking for omissions and deficiencies. The name was revised, the classification system updated, and relevant information such as plant distribution areas and protection levels improved. Finally, the cataloging and distribution dataset of wild vascular plants in Hainan Province was complete. As of February 2023, the dataset had 4,945 records, including 39 species of lychophytes belonging to 6 genera of 2 families; 531 species of ferns belonging to 121 genera of 32 families; 27 species of gymnosperms belonging to 10 genera of 6 families, and 4,348 species of angiosperms belonging to 1,380 genera of 181 families. Among them, there were 173 species listed in the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants (2021) (8 species in the first class and 165 species in the second class); there were 4,769 species of native wild plants belonging to 1,448 genera and 216 families (including 516 endemic species of Hainan) and 176 species of exotic and naturalized plants (including 63 invasive species). Compared with the first edition of the List of Species in Hainan, the total number of wild vascular plants increased by 225 species. This dataset can be used as important basic data for vascular plant diversity monitoring and protection in Hainan Province.
Aims: The red imported fire ant (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, is one of the world’s worst invasive species, both environmentally and ecologically. In this study, we aim to analyze the spatial pattern of RIFA and the interactive mechanism of driving factors of its population density in island cities.Methods: We used the Haitan Island as an example, the biggest island in Fujian Province, to analyze the spatial pattern of RIFA populations using Kernel density estimation and spatial autocorrelation models. We also used geographical detector to elucidate the individual and interactive effects of both environmental factors (8 types) and socio-economic factors (10 types) on RIFA prevalence.Results: The spatial density of RIFA populations in the study area was characterized by uneven distribution, with the highest population density occurring in farmland (high-high aggregation), followed by landscaping and greening land (high-low and low-low aggregation), and the lowest density around residential areas. There were positive spatial autocorrelations within the population range. The q value for the interpretation of 18 impact factors on the spatial differentiation ranged from 0.014 to 0.278. Overall, there were differences between the effects of the two types of factors on RIFA occurrence, and the mean q value of the socio-economic factors were higher than those of the environmental factors. The socio-economic factors that had the greatest impact on RIFA occurrence were rural population size (q = 0.278) and township area (q = 0.268). The soil classification (q = 0.172) and average annual precipitation (q = 0.149) were stronger than other environmental factors. The interaction between township area and distance to nearby scenic spot, and average annual precipitation and distance to nearby scenic spot, had the greatest impact on the occurance of RIFA (q = 0.466). The combined effect of environmental and socio-economic factors positively enhanced the occurance of RIFA.Conclusion: Our study indicates that agricultural cultivation, seedling introduction in urban greening construction, and transportation significantly affect the spatial pattern of RIFA prevalence in island cities. As far as its prevention and control strategy is concerned, we should not only implement strict plant quarantine regulations on imported seedlings and cargo, but also take locally-appropriate measures to effectively reduce the population size and prevent the spread of RIFA.
Aim: Shanghai has been acknowledged for its remarkable achievement in accommodating a dense population and effectively utilizing its land. However, the native plant species within the city have faced significant disruptions due to human interference, resulting in a decline in species diversity. Nevertheless, Shanghai boasts an area of immense botanical value, featuring a wide array of cultivated plants. In fact, it stands as the only region in China where the number of cultivated plants exceeds that of native plants. In order to safeguard the diversity of plants and promote the sustainable utilization of these invaluable botanical resources in Shanghai, especially in preparation for the forthcoming comprehensive regional biodiversity survey, we have taken on the task of updating the checklist of Shanghai vascular plants.
Methods: This paper utilized the plant specimens and image information collected during extensive field surveys conducted over the years. Furthermore, collections and literature data were incorporated to supplement the cataloging data of species. Especially, the time when species were first discovered or recorded in Shanghai was determined based on the original records found in literature and specimens. Additionally, the names and systems of the included species were revised based on the classification revision literature of specific taxa and the latest advancements in molecular systematics.
Results: The resulting checklist included a total of 4,126 species, infra-species taxa and cultivars of vascular plants. This included 1,238 wild and escaped plants and 2,888 cultivated plants from 211 families, 1,176 genera, and 2,782 species with 38 subspecies, 107 varieties, and 5 forms. Additionally, there were 1,194 cultivated varieties listed. The number of taxa included in the current version of the list has increased by 914 compared to the checklist of Shanghai vascular plants (2013 version), largely due to the inclusion of newly cultivated varieties. While only 34 new wild species were added, native plants saw an even smaller increase, with only 5 new species included. The survey revealed that 92 native plants were no longer present in the area, which suggested that the number of native plants in Shanghai has declined for the first time. This underscores the importance of conducting specialized surveys of native plants in Shanghai, particularly for those that have not been observed in several years. The history of the substantial increase in cultivated plant diversity in Shanghai was relatively short, spanning only 40 years. The number of original species of cultivated plants started to increase in 1980, and since 2010, there has been a significant surge in cultivated plants, with the majority being artificially selected varieties. This trend was largely influenced by factors such as socioeconomic status, human preferences, and cultivation management practices. The updated vascular plant checklist adopted new systems of delimitation and arrangement of plant families, which were primarily based on molecular phylogenetics. The reasons and references for scientific name changes were also provided. Additionally, an online dataset of the checklist was readily available to the public in Excel format, facilitating easy access, retrieval, and utilization of the data.
Conclusions: Based on our results, we recommend that field surveys continue, with a particular focus on species missing from the recent survey. Additionally, since more than half of the newly added alien plants are invasive species, it is crucial to strengthen the investigation and monitoring of these plants.
Aims: The Gaoligong Mountains are crucial biodiversity hotspots in China serving as Southwest China’s vital ecological security barrier. The impact of climate change and anthropogenic activity has led to a severe invasion of alien plants in the Gaoligong Mountains, posing significant threats to their ecological integrity and biosecurity. This study seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the invasion status of alien plants and propose relevant control measures to safeguard the eco-security of the Gaoligong Mountains. Methods: This study conducted systematic field investigations and combined information from previous literatures, to reveal the current invasion status of alien plants. The distribution range, recording frequency, distribution status, and impact were compiled to evaluate the invasion grade of each invasive plant in the Gaoligong Mountains.Results: The study identified 225 alien plants from 50 individual families in the Gaoligong Mountains. Among these species, 214 species were categorized as alien invasive plants and 11 as alien cultivated plants. The Compositae family accounted for the highest proportion, which was 17.29%, followed by Fabaceae (14.02%), Euphorbiaceae (7.01%), and Amaranthaceae (6.54%). Most invasive and naturalized plants originated in the Americas, accounting for 67.76% (145 species), followed by Asia (17.76%). The numbers of species assessed as risk grade 1 and 2 were 15 and 27, respectively, and some species had a high invasion risk despite not currently causing apparent harm.Conclusion: The taxonomic compositions, and origins of alien plants in the Gaoligong Mountains are complex, and their geographic origins characterize their invasion grade. Management of alien invasive plants should be species-specific according to their invasion grade to improve comprehensive control efficiency. These results could significantly contribute to better management practices for alien plants in the Gaoligong Mountains and provide valuable information for the Gaoligong Mountains National Park.
Aims: Exotic plants experience the selective pressure of herbivores when being transplanted from their native range to a newly introduced range. The ability for exotic plants to undergo rapid adaptive evolution of their growth and defense traits is essential for successful invasion. Insects are a common threat to non-native plants and can be divided into two categories, specialist and generalist herbivores, according to herbivores specialization. Specialist herbivores and generalist herbivores will have different selection pressures on plant growth defense traits. However, under natural conditions, the specialist-to-generalist ratio may change in space and time, and the impact of this change on the evolution of growth and defense traits of exotic plants remains unclear. To investigate how specialist-to-generalist ratio affects the growth and defense traits of invasive plant, we conducted the following experiment.
Methods: We conducted a common garden experiment in Yangpu District (121°30′ E, 31°20′ N), Shanghai City in which we grew invasive plant Alternanthera philoxeroides collected from both the native (Argentina) and the introduced range (China), and maize. After nine weeks of growth, we harvested all plants. We measured the following variables: total biomass, shoot biomass, storage root biomass, growth rate, root/shoot ratio, specific leaf area, specific stem length, branch intensity, leaf trichome density, triterpenoid saponin, flavones, tannins, and lignin.
Results: There was no significant difference between specialist-to-generalist ratio and origin on the growth and defense traits of A. philoxeroides. However, a significant difference on the storage root biomass and root/shoot ratio of growth traits of A. philoxeroides populations from different ranges was measured. The storage root biomass and root/shoot ratio of the introduced population increased with the increase of the ratio of specialist herbivores. The storage root biomass and root/shoot ratio of the native population were completely opposite to those of the invasive population. In addition, by comparing the growth defense traits between native and introduced populations, it was found that the total biomass (-21.4%, P = 0.027), shoot biomass (-22.6%, P = 0.026), growth rate (-17.5%, P < 0.001) and flavonoids content (-38.4%, P = 0.010) of introduced population were significantly lower than native population, and the branch intensity (+357.9%, P < 0.001), specific stem length (+62.2%, P < 0.001), specific leaf area (+13.6%, P < 0.001) and leaf trichome density (+221.9%, P = 0.002) of the invasive population were significantly higher than native population.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that invasive plants will respond to the continuous change of the specialist- to-generalist ratio by changing their growth traits rather than their defense traits. These results enrich the current understanding of the evolution of growth defense of exotic plants.
Aims: Beetles are one of the most diverse and species-rich groups of animals. Many of them have commercial values as collections or pets except for their important roles in scientific research. There is, however, little knowledge about the beetles’ trade in popular Chinese via the popular e-commerce platforms.
Methods: We investigated the trade form and quantity of beetle deals through the platforms in two years (October 2018-October 2020) in this study.
Results: The results showed that the dominant forms for beetle trades were specimens and living bodies dealing. There were 486 species belonging to 234 genera in 24 families on the online categories, with a total transaction amount of about 189,407,277 RMB. Among of them, 13 families and 175 genera, including 355 species were involved in the specimen deal. Living beetle transactions covered 157 species belonging to 98 genera within 21 families, in which included 6 invasive species in 6 genera of 4 families and 15 agricultural and forestry pests in 15 genera of 11 families. Besides, 7 species belonging to 5 genera, 4 families were on the “The list of National Key Protected Wild Animals in China”; one species was on the “List of CITES Appendix II”; 15 species within 10 genera, 5 families were included in the “The List of National Protected Terrestrial Wild Animals with Benefits or Important Economic and Scientific Values in China”.
Conclusion: The trade of living beetles, especially from overseas, could bring out the biological invasion, pest damage and pathogen transmission, or highly increase the risk of losing genetic diversity for endemic species, even cause the local species extinction. As a summary, our suggestions are presented on supervising the beetle trade through the e-commerce platforms.
Aims: With continually increasing urbanization, urban birds are becoming more reliant on the habitat provided by garden plants. At the same time, the proportion of alien plants in urban gardens have gradually increased, becoming an important part of urban bird habitats. Garden plants are the primary roosting site for urban birds, and their reasonable configuration can provide a suitable night roosting environment for birds and maintain urban bird diversity. Studying the use of night roosting plants by urban birds can provide a reference to conservationists for the construction of urban gardens.
Methods: From 2021 to 2022, infrared thermography was used to observe night-roosting bird behavior in Beijing. The species, diameter at breast height, tree height, canopy of night roosting plants, and perch height of birds were measured and recorded.
Results & Conclusions: A total of 1,865 recordings consisting of 23 species of birds in 12 families and 45 species of roosting plants in 22 families were documented. The number of native plants and alien plants in the study area accounted for 45.08% and 54.92%, respectively. The number of birds that roost in alien plants at night was about four times that of native plants. The plant with the largest number of night-roosting birds was Juniperus chinensis, followed by Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Phyllostachys propinqua, Platanus occidentalis, and Salix matsudana. The highest rarity-weighted richness of night-roosting birds was Juniperus chinensis, followed by Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Phyllostachys propinqua, Pinus tabuliformis, and Ulmus pumila. The diameter at breast height, tree height, canopy and perch height of night-roosting birds of native plants were significantly higher than those of alien plants. Birds utilized a significantly higher percentage of alien plants whilst roosting in winter (95.44%) than in other seasons (75.37%). Our findings suggest that alien plants enriched the night roosting environment of birds in Beijing urban gardens.
Aims: Apple snails (Pomacea spp.) distribute widely in the Chinese provinces south of the Yangtze River, which are spreading to the northern regions every year. We aimed to determine the identities and distributions of Pomacea species in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Methods: In this study, we collected apple snail samples from 11 populations in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. From these samples, we sequenced 270 mitochondrial COI sequences. We retrieved the published Pomacea sequences of other Chinese populations (in the China’s mainland and Hong Kong), Japanese populations, and the native populations in Argentina and Brazil to form a COI dataset of 972 sequences from GenBank. We first identified species based on genetic distance and phylogenetic analysis of haplotypes and then analyzed the population genetic structures based on the parsimony network under 95% parsimony limit using the COI dataset. To compare the genetic diversity of the populations from this study and other Chinese populations, we calculated the haplotype diversity (Hd), nucleotide diversity (π), and average number of nucleotide difference (k) for the populations of P. canaliculata and P. maculata. We conducted the hierarchical analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) of the populations from the south and north of the Yangtze River for P. canaliculata, due to only this species distributed in both banks. Finally, we determined the introgression patterns by genotyping the nuclear EF1α using the primer-specific- multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Results: We generated 10 haplotypes (Hap1-10) from the COI dataset, and identified Hap1-9 as P. canaliculata, and Hap10 as P. maculata. Pomacea canaliculata was found in all the surveyed populations, while P. maculata was only found in the Jiangsu populations north of the Yangtze River. The parsimony network of the populations of P. canaliculata split into three sub-networks, and each shared the haplotypes from Argentina. Notably, the sub-network containing Hap5 and Hap7 was firstly discovered in China. Both the parsimony network and the distribution frequencies of the haplotypes revealed that the population structures in this region were similar to the Japanese populations. Hap10 of P. maculata was identical with the dominant haplotype in other regions of China, which was shared with the haplotype from Brazil. The population diversity of P. canaliculata found in this study was the highest compared to other studies (Hd = 0.627), whereas the population diversity of P. maculata from the highest (Hd = 0.356) in Hong Kong. The populations of P. canaliculata across the Yangtze River were divided into three groups by AMOVA analysis, with the major source of molecular variance contributed from the groups. Genotyping the nuclear EF1α gene of the apple snails from this study revealed 52.6% hybrids, which was higher than that of the native populations.
Conclusion: The P. canaliculata populations in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River likely result from multiple introductions from Argentina, and provide a new history of introduction of P. canaliculata in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province. Pomacea maculata may be introduced from other existing populations in China mainly in Sichuan Basin and Zhejiang Province, which are derived originally from Brazil. The high proportion of hybrids suggest continuous introgressive hybridization during the invasion process. Our results provide important information for the monitoring and effective control of invasive apple snails.
Aims: Plant-soil feedback (PSF) is an ecological process in which plants transform the rhizosphere soil environment through growth, thereby impacting the subsequent growth and development of plants. Invasive plants may undergo adaptive evolution, therefore causing different effects on soil environments and impacting the strengths of PSF. Previous studies on PSF of invasive plants focused on comparing the differences between invasive and native plants or between invasive and other invasive species. However, there are relatively few studies dealing with the differences between introduced and native populations (invasive and non-invasive populations) of invasive plants. To address this gap, we conducted an experiment with Alternanthera philoxeroides to study whether native and introduced populations of invasive plants differ in plant-soil feedback in introduced area and how soil microorganisms affect the feedback results. Specially, we addressed the following questions: (1) Is there a difference in PSF between native and introduced populations in the area introduced by A. philoxeroides? (2) Is there a difference in the diversity of the soil rhizosphere microbial community between native and introduced populations of A. philoxeroides?
Methods: We conducted a common garden experiment in Jiangwan Campus of Fudan University (121°30° E, 31°20° N), Shanghai City in which we grew sixteen populations of the invasive plant A. philoxeroides collected from both the native (Argentina) and the introduced range (China). After nine weeks of growing, we harvested the plants and processed the soil to measure: bacterial diversity (i.e., bacterial richness and bacterial Shannon index), and fungal diversity (i.e., fungal richness and fungal Shannon index). We then cultivated three types of soil (soil conditioned by native populations, soil conditioned by introduced populations and controlled soil) to test their PSF. After five weeks of growing, all plants were collected and the following variables were measured: (1) total biomass, (2) aboveground biomass, (3) underground biomass, and (4) storage root biomass.
Results: The PSF from introduced A. philoxeroides populations was positive while the PSF of native populations was neutral. The introduced populations showed significant increases in soil bacterial richness (+ 118.3%), bacterial Shannon index (+ 70.0%), fungal richness (+ 76.3%) and fungal Shannon index (+ 193.2%). However, there was no significant difference between the soils conditioned by native populations and the controlled soil.
Conclusions: These results indicate that in the process of dispersal, the regulation of soil microorganisms by the introduced populations of A. philoxeroides has changed, producing positive plant-soil feedback. Our results provide new experimental evidence for the transformation of PSF in invasive species. Furthermore, we provide a theoretical basis for exploring the mechanisms of successful invasion by alien plants in the future which is necessary for the control and prevention of future plant invasion.
Aims: The Yunling Mountains are located in the northwest region of Yunnan Province, southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region and southwest of Sichuan Province. It’s an important mountain range in the Hengduan Mountains, and it is also in the watershed of the Lancang River and Jinsha River. To better understand the amphibian and reptile biodiversity, potential threats, and promote regional protection, we conducted an assessment of amphibian and reptile diversity in Yunnan region of the Yunling Mountains.
Methods: In 2019 and 2020, amphibians and reptiles were sampled along 239 line-transects and supplemented by other field meander surveys.
Results: In total, 37 species of amphibians, belonging to 22 genera, 10 families, 2 orders, were observed, along with 44 species of reptiles, belonging to 25 genera, 10 families and 2 orders. The results of the diversity analysis showed that the number of species of amphibians and reptiles in Yunnan region of the Yunling Mountains were less than those in hot spots such as Xishuangbanna. In addition, reptiles were more abundant than amphibians, which may be due to elevation restrictions or missing the breeding period. More amphibian and reptile species were recorded at elevation of 2,200-2,300 m, suggesting more diversity of amphibians and reptiles at medium and high elevations. Habitat destruction and human disturbance were the main factors threatening the survival and reproduction of amphibians and reptiles in the non-protected areas of the Yunling Mountains. In addition, the non-native amphibian and reptile species need to be further monitored in order to develop invasion control measures.
Conclusion: This study has documented the number of species of amphibians and reptiles in the Yunnan region of the Yunling Mountains identified population threats, and provided basic data for the protection of amphibian and reptile diversity in the area.
Aims: As an invasive species, the American mink (Neovison vison) has caused a series of ecological problems in Europe. It competes for ecological space with the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), and its invasiveness poses a serious threat to local biodiversity and ecosystem. However, minks have been introduced into the Northeast China for more than 70 years, yet there are few studies on the field population of minks in China. The purpose of this study is to understand the influencing factors and invasive range distribution of the mink population and the competition relationship between minks and otters with a similar ecological niche.
Methods: In this study, based on the distribution information obtained from field investigation and literature, the potential distribution areas of American mink and Eurasian otter were identified by utilizing an ensemble model, and the geospatial invasion risk of American mink to Eurasian otter was assessed. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess niche overlap and influencing factors.
Results: The potential distribution area of American mink was 61,944.57 km2, while the potential distribution area of Eurasian otter was 83,590.94 km2, and the overlapping area was 50,544.21 km2, accounting for 60.47% of the potential distribution area of otters in Northeast China. With distribution by province, otters in Heilongjiang Province had the highest risk of invasion by minks, and the overlap ratio of potential distribution area is 78.94%, followed by Jilin province with an overlap of 53.80%. The environmental niche of minks and otters was highly overlapped, with Schoener’s D value reaching 0.60. The results of single-factor niche analysis indicated that otters were more sensitive to cultivated land density than minks and concentrate in low cultivated land density areas. Otters and minks tended to choose areas with higher forest density, but minks had a smoother selection of forest density and were less dependent on forest than otters. Minks preferred areas with lower precipitation than otters and otters preferred higher-altitude habitats to minks.
Conclusion: According to the geographical distribution characteristics and the results of niche analysis, we suggest that the competition between otter and mink should be regulated by controlling human disturbance to suppress the mink invasion in Northeast China.
Aims: We have examined the major advancements in Biodiversity Science from 2013 to 2022 in order to celebrate its 30th anniversary and improve its capacity to serve the development of biodiversity science in China. Progress: Over the past 10 years, a total of 56 special issues/features have been published to achieve a high quality and to advance the development in biodiversity research and conservation in China. With the development and needs of the subject, new categories have been established, including Editorial, Bioinventory, Data Paper, Conservation and Governance, and Biocultural Diversity. Among them, categories like Data Paper and Bioinventory are to encourage data sharing, Editorial to introduce hot topics, and Forum to encourage academic contending. Over this time, the number of research areas of the journal has increased from 61 to 78. Approximately 90% of the papers in the journal focus on biodiversity conservation, environmental sciences/ecology. The papers of botany, zoology and microbiology accounted for 41.79%, 47.48% and 4.61% of the total, respectively. The keywords of the published articles were grouped into nine subfields according to a bibliometric analysis. These subfields included genetic diversity, community structure, camera-trapping, the Convention on Biological Diversity, national parks, plant diversity, taxonomy, and geographical distribution. A significant amount of biodiversity talent has contributed to the journal, with 4,665 authors. The top 20 authors are mainly from associated institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Peking University, etc. There are 1,525 papers published in the journal during 2013 and 2022. Of these, 1,211 papers have been cited 13,507 times by journal papers (excluding thesis papers and conference papers) in total, with an average of more than 11 times of each article. They were also widely downloaded and the download capacity increased from 66.4 thousand times in 2012 to 238.5 thousand times in 2021. Five articles have been honored as “The Excellent Research Article Award” from China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) or “The 100 Most Influential Domestic Academic Papers” in China. The highly cited and downloaded papers mainly focus on national parks, camera-trapping, the red list, multifunctionality, and biological invasion. The impact factor and total cites of the journal have ranked highly in the field of biology. According to the World Journal Clout Index (WJCI) Report of Scientific and Technological Periodicals, the journal is the only Chinese journal among global conservation biology journals, ranked 23/48 in 2019 and 25/49 in 2020, respectively. Prospects: Biodiversity Science has made a great contribution to the development of biodiversity science in China and become one of the most important journals in biodiversity conservation. Finally, we discuss how to continuously lead China’s biodiversity research and conservation in the future, challenges and countermeasures for creating a world first class journal, as well as how to improve science communication.
Background & Aims: Alien plant invasion has significantly threatened native biodiversity, ecological security, socio-economic development, and human health. Consequently, exploring the mechanisms of alien plant invasion and its ecological impacts are of great importance to the ecologically sustainable development of our country. Both questions are also key topics in the field of invasion ecology. Over the past decade, ecologists have conducted much research and achieved fruitful outcomes, providing theoretical guidance for the prevention and management of invasive alien plants and biodiversity conservation. Progresses: Based on domestic and international studies in this field over the past decade, the present article reviews the progress of plant invasion ecology, focusing on the following three aspects of the field. First, we present the roles of species characteristics, biotic and abiotic environments on alien plant invasion. Second, we review the impacts of alien plant invasion on native ecosystems. Third, we briefly introduce the term ‘native plant invasion’ as an analog to alien plant invasion, as well as applications of multi-omics technology in the area. Prospects: The review looks ahead to further developments in invasion ecology, including that (1) multiple species experiments rather than single species experiments are more suited to obtaining gerneralizable findings; (2) the geographical scale is increasing, such as from local scale to latitudinal gradient pattern; (3) more studies are integrating multiple invasion theories, rather than one hypothesis, into a unified framework.
Aim: Understanding the spatiotemporal climate niche dynamics of invasive species not only helps us recognize the trend of change in their niche, but also enables a more accurate prediction of the distribution model for the diffusion dynamics of species. In this study, Ageratina adenophora (Asteraceae), a highly aggressive invasive plant, was selected to analyze whether its climate niche changed and predicted its distribution pattern in future.
Methods: We utilized the species occurrence data and bioclimatic variables to analyze the spatiotemporal climate niche dynamics, pattern of geographical distribution, and main limiting factors of the species based on a niche analysis and species distribution model.
Results: We found that the climate niche of A. adenophora slightly expanded, but remained highly stable. The climate niche of the initial introduction stage (before 1980) was the most stable, and the stability of its climate niche gradually decreased over time. In particular, this species was more inclined to grow in humid (high precipitation of warmest quarter), cold (low mean temperature of driest quarter), and low mean diurnal range habitats in China. The suitable distribution range of A. adenophora increased significantly from 151.77% to 271.14% during the past five decades, and the center of its suitable distribution area exhibited a trend of diffusion to the Northeast (Southwest Guizhou and Southern Sichuan) before 2010, and to the Southwest (Northern Yunnan and Northern Guizhou) after 2010. The stability of the climate niche of this species also tended to decrease as the species diffused to higher latitudes. The suitable distribution range of A. adenophora will increase by 111.97% and can basically disperse to the whole potential suitable distribution range in 2040. Only a small range of suitable habitat in the southeastern Xizang was immune to colonization due to dispersal limitation.
Conclusion: As the suitable distribution area of A. adenophora in China has increased during the past five decades, its climate niche has remained highly stable. Ageratina adenophora could disperse further in the future, and the min temperature of coldest month is the main variable that limits the northward dispersal of A. adenophora.
Aim: To compose a comprehensive research report of alien plants that characterizes the taxonomic work of the last 20 years in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
Methods: A total of 46 families, composed of 141 genera and 210 species, that were previously reported as alien invasive plants were characterized on the basis of available literature reports, taxonomic studies, and field surveys in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. The primary considerations for the classification of invasive species were: (1) the number of specimens collected, (2) the time point of collection, (3) the amount of relevant literature reports, and (4) the level of national invasion determined through field investigation.
Results: Based on taxonomic classification of the available data, 57 and 153 species were broadly categorized as native and alien, respectively. Of those considered as alien plant species, 82 species were determined to be invasive in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
Conclusions: Overall, the taxonomic work of the last 20 years in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has demonstrated an inaccurate representation of its resident alien invasive plant populations. This is particularly due to the lack of relevant research and basic knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to launch a more comprehensive investigation on these plant populations to identify alien invasive plants more easily and to implement effective management strategies for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
Aims: In order to provide background information for the conservation of plant diversity in Liaoning Province, to more precisely assess plant endangerment and conservation levels, and to better provide reliable basic data for agronomy, forestry, ecology, and systematics research, this paper is the first to summarize and catalog the higher plants found in Liaoning for several generations, including bryophytes and vascular plants. Methods: The bryophytes catalog was based on the officially published literature and specimens collected from Liaoning Province which were deposited in the Herbarium of Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The vascular plants’ catalog was based on the first-hand data of field surveys, reliable literature, peer communication, plant hobbyists’ communication and specimens. Results: A total of 3,241 species, 73 subspecies, 447 varieties and 119 forms belonging to 254 families and 1,176 genera were included in the catalog process. All bryophytes were native wild plants and were first listed in Liaoning Province including 491 species, 4 subspecies and 7 varieties belonging to 83 families and 205 genera. Among them, 373 species, 1 subspecies and 5 varieties belonging to 52 families and 156 genera of mosses, 114 species, 3 subspecies and 2 varieties belonging to 29 families and 46 genera of liverworts, and 4 species belonging to 2 families and 3 genera of hornworts. The updated catalog of the vascular plants included a total of 2,750 species, 69 subspecies, 440 varieties and 119 forms belonging to 171 families and 971 genera. Among them, 13 species belonging to 2 families and 3 genera of lycophytes, 83 species, 2 subspecies and 7 varieties belonging to 17 families and 39 genera of ferns, 47 species, 1 subspecies, 13 varieties and 2 forms belonging to 5 families and 19 genera of gymnosperms and 2,607 species, 66 subspecies, 420 varieties and 117 forms belonging to 147 families and 910 genera of angiosperms. In addition, among the vascular plants, 2,077 species, 62 subspecies, 378 varieties and 93 forms belonging to 149 families and 741 genera of wild species (13 species belonging to 2 families and 3 genera of lycophytes, 83 species, 2 subspecies and 7 varieties belonging to 17 families and 39 genera of ferns, 12 species, 6 varieties and 1 form belonging to 4 families and 8 genera of gymnosperms, and 1,969 species, 60 subspecies, 365 varieties and 92 forms belonging to 145 families and 133 genera of angiosperms). Included in this are 673 species, 7 subspecies, 62 varieties and 26 forms belonging to 104 families and 390 genera of cultivated species (35 species, 1subspecies, 7 varieties and 1 form belonging to 5 families and 17 genera of gymnosperms and 638 species, 6 subspecies, 55 varieties and 25 forms belonging to 99 families and 373 genera of angiosperms). 2,235 species, 65 subspecies, 421 varieties and 116 forms belonging to 158 families and 796 genera of native species (13 species belonging to 2 families and 3 genera of lycophytes, 83 species, 2 subspecies and 7 varieties belonging to 17 families and 39 genera of ferns, 29 species, 1 subspecies, 12 varieties and 2 forms belonging to 5 families and 14 genera of gymnosperms, and 2,110 species, 63 subspecies, 402 varieties and 114 forms belonging to134 families and 740 genera of angiosperms). Additionally, the catalog included 515 species, 4 subspecies, 19 varieties, and 3 forms belonging to 88 families and 316 genera of alien species (18 species, 1 subspecies, 1 variety belonging to 3 families and 10 genera of gymnosperms and 497 species, 3 subspecies, 18 varieties and 3 forms belonging to 85 families and 306 genera of angiosperms). Conclusion: The inventory is only a phased summary of higher plants and needs to be continuously updated. Additionally, the authenticity of some species, such as Aster incisus, Artemisia carvifolia, Bupleurum scorzonerifolium and Selaginella tamariscina, listed in the catalog in Liaoning Province requires further verification, including field investigation and specimen study. It is important to note that some species may have already existed but had not been discovered for a long time. Therefore, field investigation and research work, especially in these weak areas, should be both continued and strengthened. Also, a full-coverage regional survey should be initiated to advance the research further.
Aims: Species cataloguing is the basis for studies of flora, monitoring of biodiversity, and the conservation of rare and endangered species. The vascular plant catalogue of Ningxia is of great significance for the protection of plant diversity, and the development and utilization of plants. Method: Based on Ningxia Flora (2nd edn), this article combined the data from years of field work and published literature to revise the lists of wild vascular plants in Ningxia according to APG IV classification system. Results: There are 1,754 species of wild vascular plants belonging to 597 genera and 127 families. The top 10 dominant families were Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Ranunculaceae, Amaranthaceae, Lamiaceae, Cyperaceae, Caryophyllaceae, and Apiaceae, which are comprised of 939 species, accounting for 53.53% of the total. The family composition is dominated by those with less than 20 species, and the genus composition is dominated by those with less than 5 species. A total of 230 newly recorded species have been found in Ningxia since 2007. There are 65 species of rare, endangered plants belonging to 44 genera and 25 families, and 28 species of invasive plants belonging to 22 genera and 9 families. Conclusion: In terms of land areas and location, the diversity of wild vascular plants in Ningxia is abundant. The results can provide basic data for the revision of Ningxia Flora (3rd edn) and the monitoring and conservation of biodiversity.
It is an important basis for the research on the prevention and early warning mechanism of alien invasive plants in China to figure out the types of alien plants in China, where they come from, how to enter China, what kind of groups of these alien plants are, as well as their biological and ecological characteristics. The information of alien plants recorded in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, Flora of China and their records in the Chinese province flora is very limited due to various reasons. At present, there is no any available database including the complete information of alien plants in China. By integrating materials related to alien plants in recent years, and textual research on the origin, then added the habits of alien plants through literature, then using computer network, databases and big data analysis technical means, after information treatment and taxonomic correction, with reconstruction of the classification, this paper finally provided a dataset on catalogue of alien plants in China. There are 14,710 data in this set, with 14,710 taxa of Chinese alien plants belonging to 3,233 genera and 283 families (including 13,401 original species, 332 hybrids, 2 chimeras, 458 subspecies, 503 varieties and 14 forms). Each taxon includes basic information such as taxon, Chinese family name, family name, Chinese genus name, genus name, Chinese name, surname, scientific name, authors, living status, life span, growth habit, native countries or regions, and introduced provinces in China. The data set shows that alien plants have accounted for a considerable proportion in the composition of the Chinese flora (By December 31, 2021, there are 52,177 taxa of vascular plants in China, including 37,464 native taxa and 14,710 alien taxa, the proportion of alien plants is as high as 28.19%). In terms of survival status, cultivated plants account for 91% of all alien plants, escape plants account for 7.36%, naturalized plants account for 6.69% and invasive plants account for 2.66%; The analysis of life forms shows that perennial groups account for the vast majority of alien plants (13,625 species, about 92.6%), and the number of herbs (8,937 species, about 60.8%) is more than that of trees (2,752 species, about 18.7%), shrubs (4,916 species, about 33.4%) as well as the other life forms. Most of the alien plants in China were from North America (4,242 species), Africa (3,707 species), South America (3,645 species), and Asia (3,102 species), but less were from Europe (1,690 species) and Oceania (1,305 species). The top 10 provinces in China with more exotic plants are Taiwan (6,122 species), Beijing (5,244 species), Fujian (3,667 species), Guangdong (3,544 species), Yunnan (3,404 species), Shanghai (2,924 species), Jiangsu (2,183 species), Jiangxi (1,789 species), Zhejiang (1,658 species) and Hubei (973 species). This data set is the first comprehensive and systematic collation of alien plants in China. It can be used as a reference for research related to alien plants, as well as basic data for plant diversity research. It can also be used as a reference dataset for people in agriculture, forestry, prataculture, horticulture, herbal medicine, nature protection and environmental protection, as well as teachers and students in colleges and universities.
Aim: Shaanxi Province is located in the core areas of the Loess Plateau and the Qinling-Bashan Mountains in China. The diverse ecological and geographical environment harbors a rich plant diversity in Shaanxi. It is important to document and to emerge the species diversity and geographical distribution of the vascular plants in Shaanxi. Method: Based on the summary of published literatures, we updated the checklist of vascular plants in Shaanxi Province, China. Results: A total of 5,161 species and infraspecies taxa of wild, naturalized, and cultivated vascular plants were presented in this checklist, which belonging to 209 families, 1,316 genera, 4,701 species with 112 subspecies, 488 varieties, and 17 forms. A total of 214 species was supplemented comparing with the last version of the checklist, dominated by new records of wild plants in Shaanxi in recent years. New species and newly reported alien invasive plants also accounted for a small number. In this new checklist, the delimitations and arrangements of plant families follow new systems that largely based on molecular phylogenetics. An online dataset of the checklist in the Excel format is available to the public, making the acquirement, retrieval and utilization of the data smooth. Conclusions: Our results show that continuous field surveys is still important in Shaanxi. Investigations into the Bashan Mountains should be promoted. The watch on the alien invasive plants should not be neglected.
An inventory of vascular plants in a region is of great significance for regional plant diversity conservation and sustainable utilization of plant resources. Beijing is the capital of China, where the inventory work has been carried out early since the 1960s, but it has not been systematically updated in the past three decades. Currently, the existing data is outdated, scattered and unsystematic, and the inventory progress has even fell behind the neighbouring areas of Beijing. Based on the inventory of vascular plants from the Flora of Beijing (1992 Revised Edition) and combined with the field survey from many years, we have composed a dataset on new inventory and geographical distributions of vascular plants in Beijing (including two sheets for native plants and introduced plants, the latter is incomplete currently), by supplementing with new taxa, new records and new distributions from comprehensive literatures, revising the scientific names (based on the new revision of classification), updating the classification systems (using those based on molecular data), and also adding some related information such as taxon rank, distribution status, growth status, outdoor/indoor, distribution areas, knowledge degree and conservation status. Up to December 31, 2021, the dataset has a total of 2,883 data items, with 1,680 items for native plants and 1,203 for introduced plants. There are 134 families, 611 genera, 1,597 taxa (1,440 species 3 natural hybrids 46 subspecies 97 varieties and 11 forms) of native wild vascular plants in Beijing, and totally 3 families, 26 genera, 173 species 4 subspecies 28 varieties and 11 forms should be supplemented to the last version of Flora of Beijing. The Beijing native wild plants included in the ‘List of National Key Protected Wild Plants (2021)’ have only been counted for 16 species (only 1 at the first class, others all at the second class). There are also 90 species 3 subspecies and 4 varieties included in the ‘List of Beijing Key Protected Wild Plants (2008)’. On introduced plants, so far 137 families, 581 genera and 1,184 taxa (992 species and other infraspecific taxa) are counted, including many cultivated plants (854 species 19 hybrids 15 subspecies 29 varieties 2 forms 87 cultivars 38 cultivar groups). There are still escape plants (132 species 1 subspecies), naturalized plants (77 species 2 varieties), and invasive plants (27 species) in Beijing. The dataset shows that the diversity of native wild vascular plants in Beijing is generally not very abundant, mainly dominated by widely distributed common species, and lacking endemic species, narrow-range species, or rare and endangered species; meanwhile, there are a large number of introduced plants in Beijing. Even many have long been recorded in the versions of Flora of Beijing but they are also an important part of the diversity of vascular plants in Beijing, although they also bring some confusion and uncertainty to the analysis of it due to the incomplete data.
China has a total of 226 native lizard species as of 2020 and is one of the countries with the richest lizard diversity in the world. Systematically gathering the trait data of Chinese lizards is of great importance in studying their origin, evolution, extinction, and conservation. However, there is no complete database on the life-history, ecological traits, and geographic distribution of Chinese lizards. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive dataset of species traits for Chinese lizards. Through extensive retrieval and collection, we systematically collated data on 19 characteristic traits for all the 226 native species of Chinese lizards: year of description, China Red List status, IUCN Red List status, Chinese endemism, insular endemism, mean snout-vent length, mean body mass, diet, clutch size, reproductive mode, leg development, activity time, substrate, habitat type, habitat width, elevation range, geographic range size, biogeographic realm, and domestic distribution. Nevertheless, data completeness varied from 47.14% to 100% among traits. Leg development, year of description, Chinese endemism, insular endemism, and domestic distribution were the only traits with a complete dataset. Our database is the latest and most complete one on species traits of Chinese lizards. This dataset can provide support for the research fields of ecology, evolution, biogeography, and conservation biology of Chinese lizards.
China has a total of 591 amphibian species (not including alien invasive species) as of the end of 2021 and is one of the countries with the richest amphibian diversity in the world. The species traits of amphibians affect their survival in the environment and play an important role in the study of evolutionary biology, ecology, and conservation biology. AmphibiaChina (https://www.amphibiachina.org) has compiled some data on the life-history traits, ecological traits, and geographical distribution of Chinese amphibians. However, we still lack an accessible database of the species traits of Chinese amphibians. Through extensive retrieval and searching, we systematically collected data on 22 characteristic traits related to the life-history, ecology, and geographic distribution of all the 591 amphibian species in China. The 22 characteristic traits included: the discovered time of species, holotype location, China Red List status, IUCN Red List status, threatened factors, Chinese endemism, insular endemism, body size of male/female, clutch size, egg size, breeding site, primary larval habitat, adult microhabitat, activity cycle, reproductive cycle, breeding time, parental care, fertilization type, elevational range, domestic distribution, and the number of provinces distributed. Except for the discovered time of species, domestic distribution, the number of provinces distributed, and insular endemism, the data on other traits were incomplete to varying degrees. The data completeness varied from 27.92% to 100%, with the mean completeness of 71.72% and a standard deviation of 24%. This dataset is the latest and most complete one of species traits of all the amphibian species native to China. This dataset can provide data support for the research of the ecology, conservation biology, and biogeography of Chinese amphibians.
Aims: The Nujiang River is an important international river in Southwest China. It is known as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, and the region is rich in unique fish resources. Due to its geographical location and topographical conditions, there is a lack of systematic studies on the species diversity and distribution patterns of fish species in the Nujiang River Basin. Methods: In this study, fish composition information of the Nujiang River Basin was systematically sorted out based on data from a five-year field sample of the river basin, as well as data from literature, books and online databases. The spatial distribution patterns of the Nujiang River Basin fish species were analyzed via clustering and ordination methods. Results: The results revealed that there were 85 indigenous fish species in the Nujiang River Basin. These fishes belong to 5 orders, 12 families and 47 genera. There were also 18 exotic fish species that belong to 3 orders, 8 families and 16 genera, in addition, two exotic species were newly recorded by field investigation. The fish diversity in the Nujiang River Basin significantly increased from the upper reach to lower reach. According to the results of clustering and ordination analysis of fish composition, the 25 sub-basins of the Nujiang River can be divided into three parts: (1) The upper reach in the Tibet Autonomous Region, there were 15 species. Fish of Schizothoracine and Triplophysa were dominant species, indicating a typical fauna characteristic of cold-water fish in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (2) In the middle reach from Gongshan to Lushui, there were 36 species. Aside from the cold-water fish species of the upper reach, fish of Barbinae and Labeoninae were also presented in this area. Fauna characteristics demonstrated the change from plateau fish species to plain fish species. (3) In the lower reach below Lushui, there were 74 species. Among them, the thermophilic fishes of Barbinae, Labeoninae, and Danioninae were widely distributed in the main stream, while a large number of Schistura and Glyptothorax fishes were more likely to be found in tributaries. The fish composition of this section has characteristics of tropical river and floodplain fauna. In recent years (2017-2021), several surveys have found only 43 native fish species together (50.6% of the historical records), and fishery resources in the Nujiang River Basin were decreasing significantly. Conclusion: Overfishing, development of small hydropower stations in tributaries, and the invasion of exotic fish species were the main threats to the native fish of the Nujiang River Basin. With the rapid increase in human activities, fish in the Nujiang River Basin were greatly threatened. Thus, systematic management and conservation planning for fish resources at the watershed-level are urgently needed.
Aims: The inventory and classification of biodiversity and biodiversity monitoring are the two core issues of global biodiversity research. Species inventory is the basis for understanding species diversity, and only by mastering the distribution pattern of species and the relationship between species and the environment we can provide a basis for species monitoring and scientific management. Method: Based on field work, specimen collection, specimen examination, and literature review, we provided an inventory of seed plants in the Zhejiang Province. Results: The present checklist records a total of 4,430 species belonging to 1,469 genera in 212 families, including 3,347 wild plants in 1,085 genera of 190 families. There are 7 families with more than 100 species, namely Poaceae (285 species), Cyperaceae (216 species), Asteraceae (186 species), Rosaceae (153 species), Orchidaceae (126 species), Fabaceae (109 species) and Lamiaceae (108 species). There are 15 genera with more than 20 species, including Carex (126 species), Phyllostachys (44 species), Rubus (44 species), Ilex (35 species), Polygonum (34 species), Lysimachia (32 species), Clematis (31 species), Sedum (28 species), Acer (26 species), Viburnum (26 species), Fimbristylis (26 species), Artemisia (25 species), Viola (22 species), Vitis (21 species) and Symplocos (21 species). There are 149 families with less than 20 species (78.42% of total species), which contains 388 genera (35.76%) and 902 species (26.95%). Genera with less than 5 species are 952 genera (87.74%), which includes 1,707 species (51.00%). Conclusions: Based on the statistical analysis, the floristic characteristics of Zhejiang are as follows: (1) the region is rich in species, with diverse families and genera; (2) the glacial refugia in East China retained many ancient and relict plants; (3) multiform geographic components reflect the transitional zone from the tropic to the temperate zone; (4) the region is rich in endemic and protected species which need to be protected; (5) there are many alien and invasive plants which need to be prevented early on.
Aims: Presence of many invasive plants have seriously threaten the biodiversity in nature reserves. The abundance of species is recorded in the Nonggang National Nature Reserve, but the invasion of alien plants has posed a threat to biodiversity. Exploring the invasion status of alien plants in different habitats and their interspecific relationships with dominant native plants can help the reserve identify priority habitats for the prevention and management of invasive plant species, as well as help managers to prevent further spread of invasive species by regulating the interspecific relationships between invasive species and native plants.
Methods: The four habitats included in this study are: Bischofia javanica plantation forest, Dracontomelon duperreanumplantation forest, Dendrocalamus latiflorus natural forest, and Orophea polycarpa natural forest. Each of these habitats are located besides main traffic roads. In each habitat, we established a large sample plot of 10 m × 24 m, and 72 small quadrats of 1 m × 1 m were then set up at different distances from the roads in the large sample plot for vegetation surveys. The herbaceous species (including tree and shrub seedlings) in the 1 m × 1 m plots, as well as their number, height and cover were recorded. The diversity indices of invasive and native herbs, the niche width of invasive herbs, and their niche overlap and interspecific association indices with dominant native herbs were calculated and compared.
Results: A total of 6 invasive herbs were recorded in four habitats in the Nonggang National Nature Reserve, belonging to 3 families and 6 genera, with the most species in the family Asteraceae. The highest diversity of invasive alien herbs exhibited in the Bischofia javanica plantation forest, followed by the Dendrocalamus latiflorusnatural forest, the Dracontomelon duperreanum plantation forest, and then the Orophea polycarpa natural forest. Except for the richness of invasive herbs in the Orophea polycarpa natural forest, which indicated a significant positive correlation with the richness of native herbs, there were no significant correlations in all the other habitats. The niche width of Bidens pilosa was the largest, and it was the most widespread invasive herb in all four habitats. The niche overlap and interspecific association between the invasive herbs and the dominant native herbs in all four habitats were low, and the interspecific competition between the invasive herbs and the dominant native herbs was weak.
Conclusion: Our results provide a clear picture of the distribution of invasive herbs in the Nonggang National Nature Reserve and their interspecific relationships with native herbs.
Aim: Lanzhou is the only provincial capital city that the Yellow River passes through. It has played an important role in comprehensive management and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin. It is necessary to understand the status of and changes in fish species diversity to protect this aquatic ecosystem in the future. Methods: To comprehensively document the pattern of fish diversity in the Lanzhou reach of the Yellow River, we probed the distribution of fish species using field surveys from July to October in 2020. The indices of Shannon-Wiener, Pielou, Simpson, Cody, Routledge, and Bray-Curtis were applied to evaluate the main streams and four tributaries in Lanzhou County. Relative abundance (RA) was calculated to determine the dominant species, and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) was used to show the spatial distribution pattern of the species. Results: A total of 20 species, including four threatened species, one national class II protected wildlife species, seven Chinese endemic fish species, and four of the Yellow River’s endemic fish species were collected. These species belonged to 15 genera, 6 families, and 4 orders. Triplophysa orientalis, T. robusta, Carassius auratus and Pseudorasbora parva are the dominant fish species in this area. The fish fauna was dominated by fishes that are widespread in the Northwest Qinghai-Tibetan subregion. Omnivorous, demersal, and settlement fish were the predominant ecological types. Also, the Zhuanglang River and the Yellow River had a higher diversity of fish species than the Datong River and the Wanchuan River. The beta diversity analysis showed that the habitats of the Yellow River were different from those of the Zhuanglang River, the Datong River, the Huangshui River and the Wanchuan River, and that the fish species differentiated somewhat in these rivers. Moreover, the fish composition dissimilarity between the Zhuanglang River, the Yellow River, the Huangshui River, and the Wanchuan River was high. The NMDS method was applied to the collected data and four separate groups with small geographic distance were identified. Conclusion: Water conservancy facilities construction, alien fish, and water pollution may affect the diversity and distribution of fish in the Lanzhou reach of the Yellow River. This study assessed available baseline information to ensure the protection and scientific management of freshwater fish diversity in the Lanzhou reach of the Yellow River. This information will be useful for the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin.
Aims Because of the connotation and extension of biosafety, the fuzziness of basic elements, the diversity of evaluation indexes and evaluation methods, China has not yet formed a comprehensive and effective biosafety evaluation index system. The purpose of this paper is to construct the biological safety evaluation system and to study the current situation of biological safety. Methods Firstly, we analyze the characteristics and shortcomings of the concept of “biosafety” in Biosafety Act by using normative analysis method. From the point of view of national security, biosafety refers to the ability and state of the country to effectively prevent and deal with the threat of dangerous biological factors and related factors, and to maintain and safeguard its own security and interests. Clearly the extension of biosafety, that is, only the interests of national security, public health, ecological and environmental protection threats to biological risk, is the object of biosafety regulation. Secondly, the basic elements of biosafety include natural biosafety and socio-economic biosafety. Natural biological safety mainly refers to people’s health and ecological environment protection, including individual biological safety and biodiversity safety. Socio-economic biosafety focuses on national security interests, that is, social stability and national economic interests, including biotechnology safety, biological laboratory safety. Thirdly, taking the basic elements of biosafety as the Yardstick of management, taking national security interests, public health and ecological environment protection as the evaluation subject, taking the concept of biological rule of law as the idea, using the model construction method, based on the DPSEEA (driving force-pressure-state-exposure-effect-action) model, a biosafety evaluation index system with the characteristics of biological rule of law is constructed by combining qualitative index and quantitative index. Result A set of biological safety evaluation index system with the characteristics of biological rule by law is constructed, including the level of biosafety laws and regulations system, the degree of cracking down on biosafety related crimes, the establishment and perfection of the coordination mechanism among biosafety departments, the number and percentage of biosafety laboratories meeting the prescribed standards, the number and density of biosafety talents, the total amount of official assistance to the biological industry and the basic health sector and other investments, the proportion of target population covered by vaccines, the popularization rate of biosafety publicity and education, and a total of 32 biosafety evaluation indicators. Conclusion Based on the field investigation and data statistical analysis, the evaluation system was validated by the biological safety work in Shenzhen in 2019 and 2020. The results show that the biological safety work in Shenzhen has achieved remarkable achievements in agricultural biological safety, animal and plant epidemic prevention, and prevention of alien species invasion. However, there are still some deficiencies in laws and regulations system, cultivation of biosafety personnel, investment of funds and biosafety popularization rate. In view of the above problems, this paper puts forward some suggestions, such as perfecting the legal system of biosafety and paying attention to the coordination of laws, realizing the multi-coordinated biocontrol of “One health”, strengthening the talent training and capital investment, and strengthening the propaganda and education of biosafety.
Aims: The Haihe River Basin is one of the seven main river basins in China. It also receives water from the central route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Due to the combined effect of human activity and climate change, river degradation became the primary problem of Haihe River Basin over several decades. The South-to-North Water Diversion Project can improve the environment in this river basin, but it can also bring the risk of fish invasion. Therefore, this research was conducted to assess the risk of fish invasion in Haihe River Basin caused by this project. Methods: Based on a field investigation and an analysis of the relevant research, differences in the fish species between the water diversion area and the water receiving area (Haihe River Basin) of South-to-North Water Diversion Project were evaluated. A risk assessment system for invasion of alien fishes and an aquatic species invasiveness screening kit V2.3 were used to assess the invasion risk of fish species which are not naturally distributed in Haihe River Basin. MaxEnt model was used to predict the potential distribution of fish species with invasion risk in Haihe River Basin. Results: The scoring results of the risk assessment system and the aquatic species invasiveness screening kit showed that Tinca tinca, Neosalanx tangkahkeii and Silurus meridionalis have a high invasion risk, and that Odontobutis sinensis, Pelteobagrus nitidus and Siniperca knerii have a medium invasion risk. According to the prediction of potential geographic distribution areas conducted by MaxEnt, the Tuhaimajiahe River system, Zhangwei south Canal, and coastal rivers around the Bohai Sea are prone to fish invasion. Conclusions: Aquatic organisms in the water-receiving area of Haihe River Basin should be continuously monitored, especially in areas most prone to fish invasion, for fish species with high invasion risk. A specific early screening system should be established. In addition, the fish resource investigation and invasion risk assessment for the Eastern Route Project should be carried out as soon as possible.
Aims: To quickly and accurately obtain field survey data on invasive species diffusion, we integrated the global navigation satellite system, geographic information system, and mobile internet to design a customizable mobile terminal for the collection of survey data for invasive species. This is important because traditional methods are cumbersome, slow, and error-prone. Additionally, previously designed computational survey methods are designed to address specific survey tasks. Here, we developed a customizable software program, the Yuncaiji data acquisitor, to address these issues. Method: This system was designed using the C# and Java languages. It uses navigation satellite positioning technology to help acquire precise location data more rapidly. This method tries to combine navigation satellite positioning with the Android mobile terminal to help acquire precise location data. Results: This method defines 9 kinds of data and 4 auxiliary attributes, such as default value of column value (indicator), image shooting, voice input, column sorting, establishing the association between data types and user interface, and realized customizable data entry interface. Conclusion: The Yuncaiji data acquisitor has been successfully tested in several large-scale projects, including key national (Chinese) research and development projects, major science and technology projects for the Fujian Province, and for Solenopsis invicta epidemic census. Results show that the Yuncaiji data acquisitor efficiently supports field survey data collection, data synchronization, data exporting, and data management. This system is superior to traditional survey methods involving pen and paper, because the data recoding is easily performed on a smartphone, simplifying data entry and reducing user error. The quality of the invasive species diffusion field data recorded by the Yuncaiji data acquisitor is high, indicating that our system provides suitable computational support for large-scale surveys of the diffusion of invasive species.
Aims: Phenotypic plasticity for key traits in plants can adapt in response increasing temperatures seen through climate change. Under the evolution of increased phenotypic plasticity hypothesis, populations of invasive species have greater phenotypic plasticity than native populations. Studies of this hypothesis have mostly focused on the plasticity of invasive plants to light, water, nutrients, neighbors, and natural enemies. Studies focusing on these key plant traits under warming conditions are mostly concentrated in temperate and tropic regions, while alpine regions are overlooked. Additionally, these studies mostly focus on plant growth-related traits, while relatively little attention has been paid to plant resistance and the secondary metabolites of defense traits in response to warming, especially in alpine region. Here, test for differences in plant fitness traits, important functional traits, and defense traits in response to daily warming between introduced and native populations of invasive plants. Specifically, we explore the following questions: (1) Will the phenotypic plasticity of fitness traits, functional traits and defense traits of the invasive plant Alternanthera philoxeroides respond to daily air warming? (2) If so, does this response differ between introduced and native populations? (3) Does this response differ between alpine regions and tropic regions? Methods: Using 6 populations of the invasive plant A. philoxeroides from the introduced region in China and 6 populations from their native region in Argentina, we conducted a field experiment to simulate a daily warming of 2℃ in Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region (Alpine region: 91.04° E, 29.64° N) from August to October 2020. We placed plants from each of the 12 populations into the control plots and the warming plots, and each treatment had three replicates. There were a total of 72 experimental units in the experiment (2 origins × 6 populations × 2 temperature treatments × 3 replicates). After 8 weeks of growth, we harvested all plants and measured the several variables. The fitness traits we measured included total biomass, ground biomass, storage root biomass and hair root biomass. The functional traits we measured included branching intensity, specific stem length, root-to-shoot ratio, and specific leaf area. The defense traits we measured included triterpenoid saponins and flavonoids. Results: Simulated daily warming of 2℃ significantly increased the total biomass of A. philoxeroides (+36.4%), the ground biomass (+34.5%), the storage root biomass (+51.4%), the hair root biomass (+33.6%), and reduced the specific stem length (-30.2%) and branching intensity (-19.8%). Simulated daily warming of 2℃ increased the specific leaf area (+15.1%) and flavonoids (+8.9%) of the introduced populations, while the native populations showed the opposite effect (-22.9%, -30.0%). Conclusions: These results indicate that simulated daily warming of 2℃ in alpine regions is a positive condition for the invasive plant A. philoxeroides. The fitness traits of the introduced populations have greater plasticity to simulated daily warming, and the plasticity of some plant functional traits and defense traits of the introduced populations may have greater fitness in alpine regions. As a consequence, we conclude that increasing temperatures due to global climate change may be beneficial to colonization and spread of introduced populations of A. philoxeroides in the alpine region.
Aims: The Ganjiang River is one of the major tributaries flowing into the Yangtze River basin. This area harbors a high variety of freshwater fish, but its fish diversity is not yet fully understood. To this end, seasonal field surveys of the fishes in this river were conducted from September 2016 to August 2017. Methods: Due to the complexity of the habitat types, numerous sampling methods were employed to collect the fish specimens. Battery-powered backpack electro-fishing was used in small, shallow, or navigable streams to capture fish, and a single pass electro-fishing method was used from bottom to top; the distance and time of operation depended on the situation. For streams that could be waded, gill nets, cast nets, and cages were used to collect fish specimens (we prepared gill nets and cages of various sizes for each habitat type). Also, fish were collected from the markets in the study area to ensure that sufficient specimens were available for study. Based on the survey results and historical records and the current taxonomic revisions made for relevant fish groups, an updated checklist of the freshwater fishes of the Ganjiang River was created. Results: This updated checklist of the freshwater fishes in the Ganjiang River included a total of 180 species belonging to 12 orders, 31 families, and 93 genera. Among them, 174 species are indigenous and six are aliens. Cypriniformes dominate the fish fauna of this river. Cyprinidae had the highest number of species, followed by the Bagridae. There are 23 newly recorded species, 5 of which were previously undescribed. Twenty-five of the valid species had nomenclatural changes, 36 historically recorded species were excluded. Twenty-eight documented fish species that have unique ecological preferences such as migratory species, fast running water dwellers, and pelagic drifting eggs-releasing species were not collected during these field surveys. Conclusion: The species diversity of freshwater fish from the Ganjiang River is not only still in the stage of exploration and discovery, but also under severe threat from anthropogenic interferences. The updated checklist presented here undoubtedly provides baseline information that will aid efforts to conserve the biodiversity of the Ganjiang River in the future.
Aims: There is an emerging recognition that cultural diversity and biodiversity are inherently linked. Wa people have formed a rich culture in the long process of utilization and management of biological resources from local areas. This study reports the wild plants traditionally used by Wa people and related traditional culture. It is of great significance to understand the interaction between Wa traditional culture and biodiversity for sustainable development of the community.
Methods: We investigated the wild plants traditionally used by Wa people and their culture in Cangyuan and Ximeng autonomous counties by a semi-structured interview method to gather the plant inventory and culture information.
Results: The wild plants traditionally used by Wa people are abundant, and are the basis for their traditional diet, medicine, clothing, and architectural culture. The ecological view, customary law, and customs of Wa people based on nature worship are constantly promoting the conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity in the local areas. Local governments have made efforts to protect the traditional culture and knowledge. For example, intangible cultural heritage projects have been applied to facilitate industrial development for poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. The factors of cultural diversity loss include marketization and urbanization, lifestyle changes, weak protection consciousness, and invasion of foreign culture. Local communities' incompetence to transform characteristic biological resources into ecological products also restricts the sustainable utilization of bioresources.
Recommendations: Our recommendations include improving policies and regulations for traditional knowledge and culture, establishing databases of traditional knowledge, strengthening publicity activities and education to enhance the awareness of protection and inheritance, facilitating scientific knowledge research and professional experts training. Overall, promoting cultural diversity could be a promising approach for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of bioresources in the ethnic minority areas.
Aim: Alien plant invasion seriously threatens diversity of native plants and ecosystem function. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of plant invasion could help to prevent and control alien plant invasion. Methods: In this study, we selected Ageratina adenophora, an invasive herb invaded in Pinus yunnanensis communities in Panxi region of China, as target species. Based on field investigation, we assessed the effects of environmental factors and community characteristics such as species diversity and phylogenetic diversity on the invasion of A. adenophora. Results: We found that neither environmental factors (i.e. altitude, slope, and fire severity) nor biological factors (i.e. canopy closure and shrub coverage) have significant effect on the intensity of A. adenophora invasion. However, our results demonstrate that the invasion intensity of A. adenophora was significantly impacted by the species diversity of shrub layer (P < 0.05) and the net relatedness index of herb layer to A. adenophora (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The communities with higher species diversity of shrub layer and more closely related to A. adenophora of herb layer were less likely to be invaded, indicating that A. adenophora invasion could be inhibited by competition for light with shrubs, and also be inhibited by competition for nutrition and occupation with its closely relatives.
Sponsors
Biodiversity Committee, CAS
Botanical Society of China
Institute of Botany, CAS
Institute of Zoology, CAS
Institute of Microbiology, CAS
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