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Diversity
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Ecology, Distribution, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Plants
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Ecology, Distribution, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Plants

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 4600

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Shicai Shen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agricultural Environment and Resource Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming 650205, China
Interests: biological invasions; interspecific competition interaction; allelopathy mechanism; replacement control mechanism; biological and ecological management
Dr. Xiaocheng Zhu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
Interests: molecular diagnostics; environmental DNA and RNA; population genetics; phylogenetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Invasive alien plant species have altered biogeographical distribution and caused serious economic damage, environmental problems, loss of biodiversity, and threatened ecosystem safety, as well as human and animal biosecurity. Consequently, exploring the invasion mechanism, potential distribution, and impacts of invasive plants is of great importance in relation to developing their sustainable management globally. However, the spread and expansion of invasive alien plants is still a big challenge worldwide. The invasion mechanism and effective management against principal, serious, and new invasive plant species are often inadequate. Therefore, this Special Issue is designed to highlight the recent research progress on the ecology, distribution, impacts, and management of invasive alien plants. Authors are encouraged to submit their original research and review articles to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Shicai Shen
Dr. Xiaocheng Zhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • invasive alien plants
  • invasion mechanism
  • invasiveness
  • invasibility
  • potential distribution
  • economical, ecological, and environmental impacts
  • biotic and abiotic interactions
  • chemical control
  • biological and ecological management

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 2562 KB  
Article
Evaluating Conservation Grazing Through Fine-Scale Vegetation Structure in Invaded Marsh Meadows
by Krisztina Napsugár Nagy, Zsuzsa Petra Bartal, Csilla Evelin Károlyi and László Bakacsy
Diversity 2026, 18(3), 177; https://doi.org/10.3390/d18030177 - 14 Mar 2026
Viewed by 283
Abstract
Active conservation management is widely applied in ecosystems affected by biological invasions, where outcomes depend primarily on how management regimes shape the vegetation structure. Grazing is a common tool in floodplain marsh meadows, but differences between grazing regimes are rarely assessed at spatial [...] Read more.
Active conservation management is widely applied in ecosystems affected by biological invasions, where outcomes depend primarily on how management regimes shape the vegetation structure. Grazing is a common tool in floodplain marsh meadows, but differences between grazing regimes are rarely assessed at spatial scales sensitive to internal community organization. Here, we compared the fine-scale structural diversity of two Amorpha fruticosa-invaded marsh meadows managed under contrasting conservation grazing regimes differing in livestock species, grazing intensity, and grazing dynamics. Vegetation was sampled using microcoenological methods along circular transects of contiguous 5 × 5 cm microquadrats. The fine-scale structure of the vegetation was quantified using the Juhász–Nagy spatial series framework, focusing on compositional diversity (CD) and associatum (AS), complemented by Shannon diversity. Differences between grazing regimes were evaluated using nonparametric tests complemented by effect size estimation. The patterns of species occurrence and Shannon diversity were similar between sites, indicating a similar species composition. In contrast, JNP-derived structural metrics showed consistent directional differences, with moderate to large effect sizes for selected structural indicators, despite nonsignificances. These results indicate that conservation grazing primarily influences fine-scale structural organization rather than species composition, highlighting the value of structure-oriented metrics in evaluating management effects in invaded marsh meadows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology, Distribution, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Plants)
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17 pages, 1325 KB  
Article
Shifts in Composition, Origin, and Distribution of Invasive Alien Plants in Guangxi, China, over 50 Years
by Jia Kong, Cong Hu, Yadong Qie, Chaohao Xu, Aihua Wang, Zhonghua Zhang and Gang Hu
Diversity 2026, 18(1), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/d18010044 - 14 Jan 2026
Viewed by 750
Abstract
Invasions by alien plants are major global drivers of ecosystem changes and loss of biodiversity. Guangxi is an ecological barrier in southern China that is increasingly being affected by invasive alien plant species. We comprehensively reviewed the literature, compiling and analyzing the long-term [...] Read more.
Invasions by alien plants are major global drivers of ecosystem changes and loss of biodiversity. Guangxi is an ecological barrier in southern China that is increasingly being affected by invasive alien plant species. We comprehensively reviewed the literature, compiling and analyzing the long-term changes in species composition, native range, life forms, municipal-scale patterns, and correlates of invasive alien plant richness in Guangxi at three time points (1973, 2010, and 2023). Over the 50-year period, the number of invasive alien plant species markedly increased from 31 species in 1973 to 84 in 2010 and 158 in 2023; the number of families, genera, and species increased 2.05-, 3.75-, and 5.10-fold, respectively. Species native to North America consistently dominated the invasive flora, followed by those native to Africa. The number of species native to South America and Asia increased in the records from 2010 to 2023. Annual herbaceous plants accounted for the largest proportion of invasive species throughout the study period and showed the largest absolute increase in species number. However, no substantial temporal shifts in the overall life-form composition were detected. At the municipal scale, the invasive alien plant richness exhibited pronounced spatial heterogeneity. The invasive alien plant richness was highest in Guilin and Baise in 1973, in Guilin in 2023, followed by Nanning and Baise. Correlation analyses based on 2023 data revealed a significant positive association between invasive alien plant richness and tourism intensity, whereas relationships between population size, gross domestic product, and climatic variables were weak or nonsignificant. Overall, our results document the continued expansion and the spatial differentiation of invasive alien plants in Guangxi over the 50-year period of 1973–2023. These patterns primarily reflect the accumulation in the number of recorded invasive species under a consistent classification framework and should be interpreted with caution given the potential variation in survey effort among periods and cities. The results provide a descriptive baseline for the provincial-scale monitoring, risk assessment, and management of invasive alien plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology, Distribution, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Plants)
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12 pages, 2340 KB  
Article
The Effect of Light on Plant Growth and Physiology of Acmella radicans and A. paniculata in China
by Xiaohan Wu, Fengping Zheng, Zhijie Wang, Qiurui Li, Kexin Yang, Gaofeng Xu, Yunhai Yang, David Roy Clements, Shaosong Yang, Bin Yao, Guimei Jin, Shicai Shen, Fudou Zhang and Michael Denny Day
Diversity 2025, 17(10), 709; https://doi.org/10.3390/d17100709 - 13 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1268
Abstract
Acmella radicans (Jacquin) R.K.Jansen is an annual herb native to Central America. In China, it is becoming increasingly invasive and often co-occurs with the native congener A. paniculata (Wall. ex DC.) R.K.Jansen in some habitats. In order to understand the invasion mechanism of [...] Read more.
Acmella radicans (Jacquin) R.K.Jansen is an annual herb native to Central America. In China, it is becoming increasingly invasive and often co-occurs with the native congener A. paniculata (Wall. ex DC.) R.K.Jansen in some habitats. In order to understand the invasion mechanism of A. radicans, we investigated the growth parameters of both the invasive A. radicans and the native congener, A. paniculata, under different light conditions (5%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of light availability) using potted plants in a glasshouse. Light level, plant species, and their interaction were significant, with plant species generally having a greater effect than light level. Acmella radicans and A. paniculata showed great phenotypic plasticity to various light intensities and had a similar trend with increased shade. The plasticity indices of all parameters of A. radicans, except for branch length and inflorescence number, were greater than those of A. paniculata under the same light intensity. The physiological parameters for A. radicans under both favorable (high light intensity) and unfavorable (low light intensity) conditions showed less inhibition than those of A. paniculata. All these responses indicated that A. radicans had greater phenotypic plasticity and higher adaptability to low light, which may contribute to its invasion success. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology, Distribution, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Plants)
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Review

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19 pages, 1063 KB  
Review
The Mechanisms of Sphagneticola trilobata Invasion as One of the Most Aggressive Invasive Plant Species
by Hisashi Kato-Noguchi and Midori Kato
Diversity 2025, 17(10), 698; https://doi.org/10.3390/d17100698 - 6 Oct 2025
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1861
Abstract
Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski has been introduced into many countries due to its ornamental and economic value. However, it has been listed in the world’s 100 worst alien invasive species due to its invasive nature. This species easily escapes cultivation and forms dense [...] Read more.
Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski has been introduced into many countries due to its ornamental and economic value. However, it has been listed in the world’s 100 worst alien invasive species due to its invasive nature. This species easily escapes cultivation and forms dense ground cover. It reproduces asexually through ramet formation from stem fragments. It also produces a large number of viable seeds that establish extensive seed banks. The movement of stem fragments and the dispersal of seeds, coupled with human activity, contribute to its short- and long-distance distribution. S. trilobata grows rapidly due to its high nutrient absorption and photosynthetic abilities. It exhibits high genetic and epigenetic variation. It can adapt to different habitats and tolerate various adverse environmental conditions, including cold and high temperatures, low and high light irradiation, low nutrient levels, waterlogging, drought, salinity, and global warming. S. trilobata has powerful defense systems against herbivory and pathogen infection. These systems activate the jasmonic acid signaling pathway, producing several defensive compounds. This species may also acquire more resources through allelopathy, which suppresses the germination and growth of neighboring plants. These life history traits and defensive abilities likely contribute to its invasive nature. This is the first review to focus on the mechanisms of its invasiveness in terms of growth and reproduction, as well as its ability to adapt to different environmental conditions and defend itself. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology, Distribution, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Plants)
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