Plant Invasions and Their Interactions with the Environment
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2026 | Viewed by 144
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biological invasions; evolution; rapid adaptation; soil feedback; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: microbial ecology; microbial response or effect; microbial interaction; structure and function of microbial communities; plant-microbial interaction; microorganism diversity and function; rhizosphere; endophyte; pollution microbiology; sulfur cycle; carbon cycle microorganism; sediment microbiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant ecology; plant conservation; plant invasion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the context of global environmental change, biological invasions have emerged as a critical challenge that threatens socio-economic development, ecological security, and environmental sustainability. Contemporary research reveals complex two-way interaction mechanisms between biological invasions and global environmental change. In particular, biological invasions may not only passively respond to the impacts of global change but also actively drive environmental change through cascading effects, especially in ecologically fragile areas under increasing double pressure from climate change and invasive species.
The intertwined dynamics behind environmental drivers and biological responses are fundamentally reshaping ecosystem trajectories. Synergistic interactions between abiotic and biotic factors—such as sustained temperature increases, increased water scarcity, increased herbivory pressure, and increased microplastic pollution—often amplify ecological impacts through positive feedback loops. This multidimensional convergence of environmental stressors not only disrupts ecosystem homeostasis but also poses a serious threat to biodiversity conservation, potentially triggering the irreversible degradation of key ecosystem services. An in-depth understanding of these complex interaction mechanisms has important scientific implications for the construction of ecological security frameworks and the development of adaptive management strategies. However, we still lack a predictive understanding of successful plant invasions and their interactions with the abiotic and biotic environment.
This Special Issue will include selected papers reporting on successful plant invasions and their interactions with the abiotic and biotic environment. We welcome conceptual or empirical papers focusing on any taxa on any spatial scale (from local to global).
Prof. Dr. Junmin Li
Prof. Dr. Daolin Du
Prof. Dr. Dalva Maria da Silva Matos
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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 plants
- native plants
- interactive effect
- adaptive evolution
- allelopathy
- interspecific competition
- abiotic stress
- biotic factors
- global climate change
- warming
- microplastic
- emerging pollutants
- extreme weather
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