As one of the key soil invertebrates, earthworms can greatly impact soil processes, and thus was named as “ecosystem engineer”. Earthworm activities such as feeding, digestion, excretion, and burrowing, facilitate the formation of various drilosphere in their guts or soils around, through which they alter the biological, chemical and physical processes of the ecosystem. Earthworms act as consumer, decomposer and modulator in ecosystem. The ecological functions of earthworm include: (1) effects on key soil ecosystem processes such as decomposition of soil organic matters and nutrient cycling; (2) effects on soil chemical and physical properties; and (3) interaction with plants, microorganisms and other animals. Earthworm activities and their functions in ecosystem are determined by various factors such as ecological groups of earthworms, population size, vegetation, parent materials of soil, climate, time scale, and history of soil utilization. The development of earthworm ecology was constrained by the complex feature of soil, the scarce knowledge of natural history and biogeography of earthworms, and the low efficiency of approaches in field manipulation of earthworm community. We suggest that new technologies such as the C and N isotope technique for nu-trient cycling and the image analysis approaches for soil micro-structure should be applied on earthworm ecological research in order to better understand the functions of earthworms.

Based on the environmental variables that associated with species’ occurrence records, ecological niche modeling (ENM) seeks to characterize environmental conditions suitable for a particular species and then identify where suitable environmental habitats are distributed in the space. Recently, ENM has been used increasingly in biological invasion, conservation biology, biological responses to climate change, disease spatial transmission, and variety aspects of ecology and evolutionary biology research. However, the theoretical background of these applications is generally poorly understood, leading to artifactual conclusions in some studies (e.g. niche differentiation during species’ invasion). In this paper we discuss the relationship between niche and geographic distribution and introduce the theoretical basis of ENM, along with relationships between the niche and ENM. Abiotic/biotic, historical and dispersal factors are three key elements that determine species’ geographic distributions at different scales. By using environmental variables derived from distributional records, ENM is based on observations that already include effects of biotic interactions, therefore ENM is used to characterize somewhere between the realized niche and potential niche, not the fundamental niche. Grinnellian and Eltonian niches are both manifested in ENM calibration, depending on the types of variables used to fit model, the natural spatial scale at which they can be measured, and the dispersal of individuals throughout the environment. Applications of ENM in understanding ecological requirements of species, discovery of new species or populations, nature reserve design, predicting potential invasion, modeling biological responses to climate change, niche conservatism, and species delimitation are discussed in this paper.

The impacts and invasion method of alien invasive species (AIS), and prevention and management of biological invasion are discussed. Biological invasion is becoming one of the most important factors threatening biodiversity and stability of various ecological systems in China. The impacts of these biological invasions are becoming a more serious problems with development and increase of global trade, transportation, international travel and ecological tourism. Harmful AIS often leads to irreversible species extinction, and results in substantial economic losses within managed and natural ecosystems, including agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal production. Newly invading weeds, insect pests and plant diseases frequently result in large scale outbreaks and persistent use of chemical pesticides. Successful invasion and spread of some major insect pests and weeds in China were caused by man made factors. These include decision mistakes and unintentional introduction of some plants, such as water hyacinth and alligator weed as pig food, irresponsible introduction actions taken by individual/group without any ecological concerns, and lack of rapid response mechanism for eradicating potentially AIS as soon as they appear. China is an agricultural country. Any biological invasion will be a "big bomb" for our agriculture and inevitably result in ecological and economic losses in specific ecosystem and specific geographic regions. Prevention of biological invasion is an important aspect for safeguarding the state′s ecological safety. Development and researches should focus on building the state capacity, research capacity, and management capacity for addressing AIS problem. Based on the urgent situation of AIS in China, priority for research and action plans concentrate on: developing methods to identify the origin and pathways of invasive population; understanding the biological and ecological bases of AIS; developing environmentally friendly methods for control of AIS; developing environmental impact assessment and risk analysis methods for AIS; and developing methods for the recovery of habitats after control of AIS.

The term “wild animal” has different meanings not only in Chinese but in many languages all over the world. Here, we identify uses of the term “wild animal” through examining interpretations and applications in local, national, and international laws and language used in human controlled animal reproduction. We put forward a two-dimensional conceptual framework of “wild animals” that distinguishes 12 continuous states of animals from “wild” to “domesticated”. Animal groups that have not been artificially selected in the medium- and long-term were considered wild animals. Domesticated animals, whether or not they live under human control, such as domestic cats, dogs, poultry, livestock, and model animals or stray or feral were not considered “wild animals”. However, the management of some categories, such as tamed animals of wild species or exotic/invasive animals needs to base on ecological safety, species conservation, and legislative objectives. The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife shall apply to endangered animal species threatened by humans, whether they were found in the wild or under human control condition. For the management of other states of “wild animals”, existing laws should be strictly implemented, and new laws should be enacted with genetic resources, zoonotic diseases, animal welfare, and ecological safety in mind. We additionally make specific recommendations for the definition of “wild animal” for use under the Law on the Protection of Wildlife.

We used the literature, field investigations, specimen records and taxonomic research to categorize 515 alien invasive plant species from 72 families and 285 genera reported from China according to their biological and ecological characters, extent of spread within China, and amount of damage caused. Each species was put into one of 5 categories: malignant invasion (34 species), serious invasion (69 species), local invasion (85 species), general invasion (80 species), and species requiring further observation (247 species). According to our analyses of geographic distributional patterns, Chinese alien invasive plants were highly concentrated in the southwestern and eastern coastal provinces of China, and were rapidly spreading to inland China. These categories and distributional patterns of alien invasive plants could help to assess and control their invasive risk. Our results provide baseline information on Chinese alien invasive plants; and, at the same time, we put forward preliminary suggestions for further study, public education and the management of the important alien invasive plants in China.

Spartina alterniflora，originating in North America, has been introduced to China and has now invaded many inter-tidal zones of gulfs and estuaries in China. With its spread, Scirpus mariqueter,a native grass species, has experienced a concurrent decrease in area. Based on field investigation at Chongming Dongtan Wetland and potted plant competition experiments at Fudan University, we compared growth characteristics and relative competitive ability between the two species. The results indicated that in terms of height, coverage, above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, and mean seed number per spike, values for Spartina alterniflora were all significantly higher than those of Scirpus mariqueter.However, the density and number of flowering tillers per square meter for Spartina alterniflora were significantly lower than those of Scirpus mariqueter.In terms of seed output per square meter and seed germination rate, there were no significant differences between the mature populations of the two species. Both interspecific and intraspecific competition between Spartina alterniflora and Scirpus mariqueter remarkably reduced the number of ramets, the proportion of fruiting ramets, the above-ground biomass and the number of corms (only Scirpus mariqueter has corms). The interspecific relative competitive ability (measured as relative neighbour effect index, RNE) of Spartina alterniflora was significantly greater than that of Scirpus mariqueter. The obvious growing advantage of Spartina alterniflora compared with Scirpus mariqueter might explain its greater interspecific competitive ability, which might explain its successful invasiveness into the native Scirpus mariqueter community in the Yangtze River estuary.

Alien invasive species have become a serious environmental issue throughout the world. It is necessary to launch a nationwide investigation on alien invasive species, so as to obtain baseline data, identify causes of invasion, and put forward effective control strategies and measures. Data on classification, origin, pathway and environmental impacts of alien invasive micro-organisms, invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, fish, birds, mammals, weeds, trees in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and alien invasive species in marine ecosystems of China were analyzed, based on literature research, field survey and consultation. 283 alien invasive species have been identified in China, and the number of species of alien invasive micro-organisms, aquatic plants, terrestrial plants, aquatic invertebrates, terrestrial invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, fish, and mammals were 19, 18, 170, 25, 33, 3, 10, and 5, respectively. The proportion of alien invasive species originating from America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania were 55.1%, 21.7%, 9.9%, 8.1% and 0.6%, respectively. Many institutions and individuals in China lack adequate knowledge of ecological and environmental consequences caused by alien invasive species, with some blindness in the introduction of alien species. For instance, 50.0% of alien invasive plants were intentionally introduced as pasture, feed stock, ornamental plants, textile plants, medicinal plants, vegetables, or lawn plants. 25% of alien invasive animals were intentionally introduced for cultivation, recreation, or biological control. In addition, much effort has been made on introduction of alien species, and little attention has been paid to the management of introduced alien species, which may allow their escape into natural environments and potential threats to the environment. There are also gaps in the quarantine system in China. All invasive micro-organisms were unintentionally introduced, through timber, seedlings, flowerpots, or soil. 76.3% of alien invasive animals invaded through commodity or transportation facilities because of the failure of quarantine. It is recommended that quarantine measures should be strictly implemented. At the same time, the intentional introduction of alien species should be strictly managed and a system of risk assessment should be implemented.

As increasing attention has been paid to below-ground ecosystems in recent years, the impact of exotic plant invasions on soil ecosystems has emerged as a central issue in invasion ecology. In this paper, effects of exotic plant invasions on soil biota and soil nutrient cycling processes are reviewed, and the mechanisms that underlie these impacts are discussed. The available literature suggests that no consistent pattern exists on the impacts of exotic plant invasions on soil microbes, soil animals, soil carbon cycling and nitrogen cycling. The mechanisms underlying the impacts of exotic plant invasions are also complex and diverse. The discrepancies most likely arise from the differences between invasive and native plants in a variety of physiological and ecological traits, such as litter quality and quantity, root distribution, and phenology. Future studies are recommended to (a) compare the impacts across multiple scales and multiple ecosystems; (b) intensify mechanical studies of the impacts; (c) link the impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem processes; and (d) explore the mutualistic interactions between soil ecosystems and exotic plants.

Roads serve multiple functions that enhance exotic species invasion. In this paper, we examined the roles of disturbance, light availability, slope aspect, and climate in explaining density and frequency of exotic invasive plants. We analyzed the effect of main environmental factors along 13 roads with different levels of anthropological disturbances (heavy, moderate, and light) in the north tropical and south subtropical mountainous zones in Yunnan Province. The results demonstrated that density of four species, Eupatorium adenophorum, E. odoratum, Ageratum conyzoides and Tithonia diversifoli, and frequency of E. adenophorum were significantly associated with distance from roads. The curves of these four alien plants all presented a single-peak pattern, and their maximum abundance occurred within 4 m of roads. These four alien plants invaded native plant communities from primary colonization points along road margins. Density of E. adenophorum, E. odoratum, A. conyzoides, T. diversifoli and Synedrella nodiflora and frequency of E. adenophorum, E. odoratum, A. conyzoides and T. diversifoli tended to be significantly higher along highly disturbed roads than moderately and lightly disturbed roads, indicating that plant communities adjacent to highly disturbed roads might be more prone to invasion. Density of E. adenophorum, E. odoratum and A. conyzoides and frequency of E. adenophorum, A. conyzoidesand S. nodiflora were significantly higher in areas with high light level than those that had medium or low light levels. E. adenophorum, E. odoratum and A. conyzoides might obviously invade farther in habitats along roads that had high light level. Density of E. adenophorum, A. conyzoides and S. nodiflora were significantly higher on warm aspects than on cool aspects. E. adenophorum and T. diversifoli were mainly distributed in the south subtropical mountainous zones, while E. odoratum and S. nodiflora were mainly in the north tropical mountainous zones. A. conyzoides and Malvastrum coromandelianum were distributed in both zones. Tridax procumbens were very few along roadsides, which had no statistical significance. Management of roadside habitats should be considered a key to preventing and controlling alien plant invasion, and the maintenance of a dense canopy of native vegetation would benefit control of alien invasive plants.

The flora of Hong Kong has been well-surveyed since the mid nineteenth century and has had a long history of alien plant invasions. To the present day, more than 2130 wild plant species have been recorded, including 238 species that are probably naturalized alien species. Among them, Mikania micrantha, Ipomoea cairica, Eupatorium catarium, and Panicum maximum are most abundant. Naturalized alien plants are most prominent in human-disturbed habitats, such as abandoned farmland, wasteland and roadsides, and are rarely important in relatively undisturbed forest habitats, or in fire-maintained impoverished shrubland and grassland. Impacts of naturalized alien plants on local ecosystems are so far limited to lowland habitats, including wetlands and forest margins, where they form monospecific thickets, outcompete native plant species, and reduce local habitat and animal diversity. The biggest impact on the local flora by an alien species, however, was caused by the Pinewood Nematode introduced in the 1970s. Introduction of alien vertebrates may also have an impact on Hong Kong's vegetation. As the biggest port on the southern coast of China, Hong Kong has probably been an important entry point for alien species to China. Among Hong Kong's naturalized alien plants, some have only recently been noticed, and have few or no records from the mainland. The potential for these species to invade the mainland should not be neglected. Appropriate measures to control spread of these plants, both locally and regionally, are essential.

Ecological niche models (ENMs), which are widely employed to predict the potential geographic distribution of species, provide an important tool to quantify the risks imposed by invasive alien species. The problem of how to evaluate the performance of different models has attracted more and more attention. In the present paper, we introduced the principle of the method of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis in assessing the accuracy of different ENMs. We predicted the suitable distribution area of Radopholus similis, an important banana toppling disease nematode, with five widely used ENMs and evaluated the performance of different models by ROC curve analysis. The area under ROC curve (AUC) for BIOCLIM, CLIMEX, DOMAIN, GARP, and MAXENT models was 0.810, 0.758, 0.921, 0.903, and 0.950, respectively. Among these, the biggest value of AUC was assigned to MAXENT, indicating that the result gained by MAXENT should be better than the other four models. According to the results of analysis of variance (ANOVA), there was a remarkable difference in AUC between each model except for DOMAIN and GARP.

Agricultural activities , such as land use , tillage , intercropping and rotation , grazing , and extensive usage of pesticides and fertilizers , exotic germplasms introduction , and screening of varying progenies in breeding program , have significant impacts on species diversity , genetic diversity of flora and fauna. Land use in an unreasonable way results in habitat fragmentation and biodiversity decrease. Species in soil were disturbed or became extinct on a large scale by tillage activities with agricultural machines. Extensive usage of pesticides causes loss of non2target insects and plants. Genetic erosion resulted from modern breeding program by means of limited interspecies hybridization decreases the genetic diversity of agroecosytem. Some agricultural activities such as intercropping , rotation , organic farming practice are favorable for biodiversity conservation. In most cases , agricultural activities focus only on crop production , while the impacts on wild plants and animals by agricultural activities are neglected. This paper provided an overview of the impacts of agricultural practices on biodiversity , and discussed how agricultural practices could be modified so as to enhance the conservation of biological resources and long term viability of agriculture.

Remote sensing, in conjunction with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), has been used successfully in many studies on coastal resources, dynamical monitoring of the environment, and quantifying tidal flat vegetation. We investigated the potential of using multispectral satellite remote sensing to map and quantify an exotic plant, Spartina alterniflora, on tidal flats in Shanghai. A Landsat5-Thematic Mapper image, dated 2^nd August 2003, was geometrically corrected using ERDAS Imagine 8.6, and a sub-sample of the study area was then extracted. The sub-image was then analyzed using a Tassel Cap transformation (K-T) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to identify different types of salt marsh vegetation. Based on these results, a series of classes were identified and a supervised classification was carried out using the Maximum Likelihood Classifier in ERDAS Imagine. The results of the classification were then checked using an in situ field survey of selected areas. The classification had an overall accuracy of 80%. The classified image was then integrated with other data in a GIS to analyze the spatial distribution of the S. alterniflora communities in Shanghai. The results showed that the total area of the S. alterniflora community in Shanghai was 4,553.37 hm² in 2003, which accounted for 22.1% of the total vegetation on tidal flats. Excepting Chongming Xitan and Hengsha Island, the S. al-terniflora community was distributed extensively on the tidal flats in the Changjiang Estuary. Nanhui Bian-tan accounted for 2,069.01 hm²; Chongming Dongtan, 910.17 hm² and Jiuduansha, 769.05 hm². The distribu-tion pattern of S. alterniflora showed that anthropogenic transplantation and the rapid proliferation of clones could be the main cause for successful expansion of this exotic. The results of this research indicate the po-tential of this approach for providing timely data for quantitative inventory of invasive plants over large ar-eas, and a scientific basis for biodiversity protection and sustainable utilization of tidal flats resources.

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a noxious invasive species, has infested vast aquatic ecosystems. Besides its extraordinary adaptive ability and clonal growth, the eutrophication of water bodies also account for its rapid spread. Based on a series of pot experiments, we examined the growth characteristics of water hyacinth at three different nutrient levels, as well as its competitive effects on two native plants Ludwigia peploides ssp. stipulacea and Hydrilla verticillata. Our results showed that the mean number of ramets, mean height and total biomass of water hyacinth significantly increased with increase of nutrient level, indicating that nutrient-enriched water accelerated the growth and propagation of water hyacinth, which, as a result, reduced the growth of L. peploides ssp. stipulacea and H. verticillata. This suggests that eutrophication further boosts the competitive advantages of water hyacinth over native plants, and thus facilitates the invasion of this weed in water bodies. Thus, alleviating water pollution is a key method for controlling the spread of water hyacinth in order to protect native biodiversity and ecosystem function.

The six meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in 2002 adopted the goal of “significantly reducing the rate of biodiversity loss worldwide by 2010”, and requested Parties to develop biodiversity assessment indicators and to conduct biodiversity assessment. This paper puts forward five indicators for comprehensive biodiversity assessment, i.e. species richness, diversity of ecosystem types, completeness of vertical stratification of vegetation, endemism, and extent of biological invasions, based on the principles of scientific approach, representativeness, and practicality. Methods for comprehensive biodiversity assessment were established, and a national biodiversity assessment was con-ducted by taking 31 provinces (including municipalities and autonomous regions) as the basic assessment units. Biodiversity of provinces was classified into four grades. Yunnan, Sichuan and Guangxi boast highly rich biodiversity. Guizhou, Hubei, Guangdong, Hunan, Chongqing, Fujian, Tibet, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hainan, Gansu, Xinjiang, and Shaanxi boast quite high biodiversity. Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, and Beijing have moderate biodiversity. Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, and Tianjin have poor biodiversity.

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.

Rapid worldwide urbanization during the last century has led to more than half the world’s population living in urban regions. Studies of how urbanization affects insect diversity have focused on the following: insect abundance, distribution, extinction, food habits and ecosystem services. Native insect populations have declined greatly in urban areas, where studies of their spatial distribution have revealed that abundance decreases along what is termed the rural-city center gradient (RCG), many native insects even extinct with urbanization process. Most specialist insect communities have declined in abundance due to urbanization, while some generalist species, such as aphids, cockroaches and termites, have increased slightly in abundance. It is also the case that herbivorous, parasitic, saprophagous and flower-visiting insects are much more negatively influenced by urbanization than predator insects. This has a significant effect on the ecosystem services of insects. The decline of many insects due to urbanization can be attributed to environmental pollution (including air pollution, water pollution, light pollution, and heat pollution), habitat fragmentation, road hardening, clustering of buildings, and occurrence of introduced invasive species. As urbanization continues, measures should be taken to protect insects in urban areas. This will entail improving basic scientific research on the problem, construction of suitable habitats, and informing the general public of the benefits of environmental protection.

An overview of research progress of urbanization impacts on plant biodiversity was given. With a worldwide expanding of urbanization, especially in developing countries, effects of urbanization on biodiversity are attracting more attention. Urbanization reduces native plant species whilst increases introduced plant species. As for distribution of plant species, richness of native plant decreases along rural, rural-urban fringe and urban gradient. However, richness of introduced plant species increases, which results in increasing of total plant species richness along the same gradient. Urbanization also produces the great influence on plant species composition and makes the dominant species varying along the gradient. The mechanism of urbani-zation affecting plant biodiversity mainly lies on three aspects, i.e., introduction of exotic species, change of microhabitat, and altering of landscape pattern. Concerning further researches, four main trends will become more and more important: (1) systematical integration of different regions, various methods and multi-disciplines, (2) long-term site monitoring the urban expanding and plant biodiversity changing, (3) re-search on interior mechanism of native plant species’ loss and characteristics’ change, especially the in-ter-actions between the exotic and native plant species, and (4) urban plant biodiversity conservation.

Alternanthera philoxeroides is a perennial herbaceous amphibious aquatic weed of the family Amaranthaceae, native to South America. It was first found in Shanghai, China in 1892. After a stagnant phase of 50 years (1890s-1940s), A. philoxeroides spread rapidly throughout areas of central and southern China, and the range is still expanding. It is one of the most harmful and widely distributed alien species in mainland China. We applied Genetic Algorithm for Rule-Set Production (GARP) ecological niche modeling to predict the species’ potential range in China on the basis of occurrence points within colonized areas whereA. philoxeroides had reached equilibrium. Environmental factors such as slope, flow accumulation, mean annual temperature, annual precipitation greatly influenced the size of A. philoxeroides’s potential range, while parameters such as solar radiation and elevation had little impact. Areas that we predict to have potential for invasion were still larger than those areas that had been invaded. Therefore,A. philoxeroides is predicted to continue to expand in China. Most Chinese provinces excluding Tibet, Qinghai, western Sichuan, southern Xinjiang, western Gansu, north-eastern Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Hainan are likely to be invaded. Because they are adjacent to areas that had been invaded, Shaanxi, Shanxi and south-eastern Gansu were most liable to be invaded; hence urgent measures should be taken there to prevent this species from further spreading.

In recent years, tourism has developed rapidly in Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, which has been designated a World Heritage Natural Site. To measure the effect of tourism on vegetation in Jiuzhaigou, we selected two scenic spots, namely the Virgin Forests and the Grass Lake, as study sites and compared the species composition and diversity of understory plants in Abies fargesii var. faxoniana forest. The results showed that (1) the species composition and their frequency were significantly impacted by tourism. Some native shade-tolerant or hygrophilous plants had disappeared, while some xerophilous, disturbance-resistant species, as well as some exotic and synanthropic species, had expanded their populations. (2) In the Virgin Forests, the coverage of understory plants was reduced and the shrubs and bryophytes were markedly depressed (both in height and density). In the Grass Lake, which was only slightly disturbed, there were no obvious effects on herbaceous and shrub communities except for bryophyte. It is concluded that bryophytes are more sensitive to the degree of tourism disturbance, and the species composition can be a better indicator for disturbance degree than other indices such as height, coverage and density. The results indicate that tourism in Jiuzhaigou had an obvious negative effect on the indigenous biodiversity, and conflicted with biodiversity conservation. Therefore, it is necessary to restrict tourism activities to an appropriate extent.

As one of the five major global environmental problems, invasive species have posed serious threats to native ecosystems, public health, and regional economies. Although much progress has been made in the field of biological invasions research in China over the last decade, there are still large knowledge gaps. This paper reviews progress in the field of biological invasions research since 2000 as it relates to China, covering the diversity, colonization and immigration patterns of invasive species, mechanisms and ecological effects of biological invasions, and management and control of invasive species. In China, 529 invasive alien species have been identified, which originated primarily from South and North America, and the major taxa included terrestrial plants, terrestrial invertebrates, and microorganisms. We found a higher prevalence of invasive species in the eastern and southern provinces, compared to the western and northern provinces in China. This pattern is likely due to the differences in the level of economic development and environmental suitability between the two regions. Moreover, with further economic development, China may face more serious biological invasions in the future. These invasions of alien species are largely the combined results of the interactions between the intrinsic traits of these species along with resource opportunities and disturbances by human beings. Many mechanisms are responsible for successful invasions of alien species, but phenotypic plasticity, adaptive evolution, enemy release, interspecific mutualism or commensalism, and new allelochemicals may be primary causative factors. Biological invasions in China have caused serious impacts on native ecosystems, including biodiversity and ecosystem services, alteration of biogeochemical cycles, threats to agricultural and forestry production, traffic and shipping, environmental safety, and public facilities. China has also made progress in the detection and monitoring of invasive species, risk analysis, biological control, radical elimination, and ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems. We suggest several issues that need to be addressed in invasive species research in the future, including territory-wide inventories, evolutionary ecology and genomics, direct and indirect ecosystem-level consequences, interactions between major components of global change and biological invasions, and management and control technologies.

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.