Abstract
Understanding the origins and introduction pathways of invasive species is a fundamental issue for invasion biology, which is necessary for predicting and preventing future invasion. Once an invasive species is established in a new location, this location could serve as a stepping‐stone for further invasions. However, such “stepping‐stone” effect has not been widely investigated. Using the published literature and records, we compiled the first found locations of 127 top invasive species in China. Our study showed that the most common landing spots of these invasive species were Hong Kong (22 species) and Taiwan (20 species), which accounted for one‐third of the invasive species in China. Our analysis revealed that the invasive species in mainland China were more likely to transport from Hong Kong than Macau, a neighboring region with a similar area and colonial history. Similarly, more invasive species were also first landed on Taiwan than Hainan, a nearby island sharing similar climate conditions. Together, our findings indicate that Hong Kong and Taiwan are the most important stepping‐stones for invasive species to the mainland of China and suggesting that the increasing trade exchange of China's coastal ports constitutes a potential risk for the spread of more invasive species. We suppose that they would be the future stepping‐stones for invasive species to the mainland of China and these coastal ports regions where improved biosecurity is needed now.
Highlights
It has been almost 60 years since Charles Elton published his classic book on biological invasions, The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants (Elton, 1958; Ricciardi & Maclsaac, 2008; Richardson, 2011; Richardson & Pysek, 2008)
By comparing the number of first detected invasive species in Hong Kong and Macao, a nearby region with similar climate conditions and similar colonial history, we found that species in mainland China were more likely to come from Hong Kong than Macau (χ2 = 14.44, p < .001; Table 1)
Our study revealed that Hong Kong and Taiwan contain the largest number of first detected top invasive species in China
Summary
It has been almost 60 years since Charles Elton published his classic book on biological invasions, The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants (Elton, 1958; Ricciardi & Maclsaac, 2008; Richardson, 2011; Richardson & Pysek, 2008). Global trade and transport network topology were used to study the geographical spread of invasive species and enable the development of more effective strategies to prevent invasions, utilizing this new insight and tools in a systemic approach can help decision-makers in managing threats to national and regional biosecurity and in safeguarding the world’s natural and managed ecosystems (Banks et al, 2015). Once an invasive species successfully established in a new location via long-distance dispersal, such invaded location could serve as a stepping-stone for further invasions to the nearby locations Such “stepping-stone” effect has been observed for the spread and dispersal of invasive species in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Buchan & Padilla, 1999; Suarez, Holway, & Case, 2001). We further compared the landing patterns of two trade hubs (Hong Kong and Taiwan) with their neighboring regions with similar area and climate conditions (Macau and Hainan) and hope that this effort will contribute toward offering insight into the prevention and control of biological invasions in China
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