Plant Invasions in China: What Can we Learn from the Checklists of Alien Invasive Plants during 1998-2008?

Abstract

To enhance our understanding on plant invasions in China, we conducted a comparative study of the checklists of the alien invasive plants in China published during 1998-2008. Our results showed that species diversity of the invasive plants in China was relatively small, in consideration of the huge flora and diverse habitats in China. The results also indicated that there was a big turnover of species composition among the seven checklists. The fast-growth of species diversity of alien invasive plants during 1998-2008 and the exponentially increasing trend confirmed the early warnings. There was an increasing trend observed on those from Asia and Africa from 1998-2008. We suggested that extensive and intensive communication was pressingly needed among ecologists, taxonomists and authors of the checklists. The establishment of the checklist of alien invasive plants with high reliability and timely maintenance, which can accommodate the rapid turnover of the invaders, was one of the chief tasks in the research of plant invasions in China.