Ecological risk pattern and reasons of invasive alien plants in China

Understanding the ecological risk pattern of alien invasive plants and formation reasons in regional scale is significant for improving prediction invasion effect and control of potentially invasive species. In this paper, the region ecological risk pattern of main invasive plants and causes of formation were analyzed based on the current status of 90 alien invasive plants in China. The results showed a gradual decrease on the number of alien invasive plants from southeast to northwest. In southeast coastal area of China, species abundance of alien invasive species was higher, which resulted in a relatively greater invasive risk. On the contrary, in north area and high-altitude area such as Tibet and Qinghai, the ecological risk was lower because of a small number of alien invasive plants in these areas. The main reasons were due to frequent human activity and water-temperature condition under that climate zone. Therefore, the southeast coastal area of China was vulnerable to alien invasion, and it was the important area for preventing alien plant invasions.