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Plants
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Climate Change and Invasive Plants
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Climate Change and Invasive Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2025) | Viewed by 3273

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Maria Cristina Morais

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: valorization of organic residues through composting and vermicomposting; plant physiology; plant response to abiotic stress; invasive plant species; sustainable management of organic residues
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Invasive alien species are among the top five drivers of global environmental disruption, with escalating impacts at ecological, economic, and human-health levels. To address this growing challenge, the European Commission adopted Regulation No. 1143/2014, emphasizing the need for targeted management measures for widespread invasive species. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 reinforces this priority, setting an ambitious goal to reduce the spread of invasive species by 50% by 2030. However, removing invasive species from non-native habitats and restoring ecosystems are essential steps for reversing biodiversity loss, but these efforts remain challenging and resource-intensive. The interaction between global change factors—such as altered temperature, precipitation patterns, and salinity-increased CO2 levels—and invasive species introduces complex, multidimensional effects on ecosystems, further complicating management strategies.

This Special Issue welcomes submissions of reviews, research articles, or short communications that explore the physiological traits and mechanisms through which global change drivers and invasive plant species interact to influence invasiveness. Contributions using modeling approaches to predict the effects of these drivers on plant invasiveness are also encouraged.

Dr. Maria Cristina Morais
Guest Editor

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. 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

  • climate change
  • plant invasion physiology
  • elevated and/or low temperature
  • salinity stress
  • water excess or deficiency
  • excess and/or lack of light
  • oxidative stress
  • elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2
  • plant metabolites
  • modeling approaches for plant invasiveness and distribution

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 8140 KB  
Article
Impact of Climate Change on the Invasion of Mikania micrantha Kunth in China: Predicting Future Distribution Using MaxEnt Modeling
by Chunping Xie, Zhiquan Chen, Mianting Yu and Chi Yung Jim
Plants 2025, 14(23), 3694; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14233694 - 4 Dec 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1071
Abstract
Invasive alien species pose escalating threats to global biodiversity and ecosystems, which may be exacerbated by climate change, potentially leading to range expansions and intensified impacts. In China, Mikania micrantha Kunth, a fast-growing tropical vine listed among the world’s 100 worst invasive species, [...] Read more.
Invasive alien species pose escalating threats to global biodiversity and ecosystems, which may be exacerbated by climate change, potentially leading to range expansions and intensified impacts. In China, Mikania micrantha Kunth, a fast-growing tropical vine listed among the world’s 100 worst invasive species, has proliferated since its introduction in the mid-20th century, causing severe ecological damage through the smothering of vegetation, suppression of allelopathy, and economic losses in agriculture and forestry. This study aimed to predict its current and future distributions to guide management. Using 205 stringently filtered occurrence records from databases, surveys, and literature, combined with bioclimatic variables from WorldClim and MaxEnt modeling—optimized via ENMeval and evaluated by AUC (>0.97)—projected habitats under current (1970–2000) conditions and future SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP3-7.0 scenarios for the 2050s and 2070s via the BCC-CSM2-HR model. Temperature factors dominated predictions, with current excellent suitability (3.6 × 104 km2) concentrated in Hainan and southern Guangdong, expanding to good and moderate zones in Guangxi, Fujian, and Yunnan. Future averages showed expansions in excellent (21.3%), good (10.0%), and moderate (14.0%) habitats, with some northward shifts into Jiangxi and Hunan under higher emissions. In situ augmentation of habitat suitability and spatial containment overshadows the northward range expansion. The high-emission scenario is projected to lead to temperature overshoots, which will dampen habitat suitability. The findings underscore M. micrantha’s resilience to warming, necessitating integrated strategies such as guarding critical biodiversity sites, early detection, biocontrol, and habitat restoration to mitigate risks in both core and emerging zones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Invasive Plants)
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10 pages, 927 KB  
Article
The Relative Growth of Invasive Solanum rostratum Dunal Decreases with Increasing Competitive Species Richness Regardless of Resource Conditions
by Fa-Zhao Qi, Xiu-Rong Lu, Dong-Pu Wu, Xiao-Jia Zhang, Ying Gao, Lin Geng, Ming-Chao Liu and Yu-Long Feng
Plants 2025, 14(23), 3609; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14233609 - 26 Nov 2025
Viewed by 652
Abstract
The biotic resistance hypothesis proposes that species-rich communities are more resistant to biological invasions due to the less available resources for invaders. The variation in available soil resources may affect the invasion resistance of community, but there is little evidence. Using invasive Solanum [...] Read more.
The biotic resistance hypothesis proposes that species-rich communities are more resistant to biological invasions due to the less available resources for invaders. The variation in available soil resources may affect the invasion resistance of community, but there is little evidence. Using invasive Solanum rostratum Dunal, a noxious invader in infertile habitats, and six co-occurring non-invasive species, we conducted a field experiment by testing the relationship between relative growth performance of invasives and richness of resident non-invasives, and the effects of available soil water and nutrients on the relationship. We found that relative aboveground biomass (hereafter relative biomass), relative coverage, community-weighted means (CWM) of specific leaf area (SLA), and photosynthetic rate (Pmass) of S. rostratum decreased with increasing resident non-invasive species richness. In contrast, for the non-invasive species, the CWM of SLA and Pmass significantly increased with increasing resident species richness. However, the available soil water and nutrients exerted limited effects on the relative biomass and coverage of S. rostratum. The piecewise structural equation model showed that non-invasive species richness has not only direct negative effects, but also indirect negative effects through promoting non-invasive biomass on the relative biomass of S. rostratum. Our findings indicate that the higher resident species richness is fundamental to resist invasion of alien S. rostratum, which operates through increasing biomass and resource acquisitive traits of a non-invasive community. Additionally, soil available resources exert limited effects on the invasion resistance. This study suggests the importance of conservation of biodiversity in preventing biological invasions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Invasive Plants)
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14 pages, 1335 KB  
Article
Planting Patterns Affect the Differences in Growth and Its Responses to Nitrogen Forms and Levels Between Three Invasive and Their Respective Related Native Species
by Wei-Wei Feng, Kai Huang, Si-Miao Sun, Jian-Kun Sun, Ming Guan, Fa-Zhao Qi, Ming-Chao Liu, Bo Qu and Yu-Long Feng
Plants 2025, 14(12), 1768; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14121768 - 10 Jun 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1052
Abstract
Global changes, such as atmospheric nitrogen deposition, can facilitate alien plant invasions, which are often attributed to the increase in soil nitrogen availability. However, few studies have considered the effects of global change-driven alterations in soil nitrogen forms, especially under conditions with interspecific [...] Read more.
Global changes, such as atmospheric nitrogen deposition, can facilitate alien plant invasions, which are often attributed to the increase in soil nitrogen availability. However, few studies have considered the effects of global change-driven alterations in soil nitrogen forms, especially under conditions with interspecific competition. In this study, we first determined the differences in growth, biomass allocation, and photosynthesis under different nitrogen forms and addition levels between three noxious invasive species (Xanthium strumarium, Ambrosia trifida, and Bidens frondosa) and their respective related natives grown with and without interspecific competition and then assessed the interspecific difference in nitrogen form preference using the 15N labeling technique. Interspecific competition significantly decreased the positive responses of growth to nitrogen addition for all three natives, while increasing the responses for all three invaders, particularly under nitrate addition. When grown in competition, all invaders showed significant growth advantages over their related natives in most cases, and responded more positively to the addition of nitrate relative to ammonium, while the natives responded more positively to ammonium addition. These findings indicate that the invaders prefer nitrate, while the natives prefer ammonium. Consistently, the growth advantages are more pronounced for the invaders under nitrate relative to ammonium addition, indicating that nitrate-rich habitats may be more vulnerable to the invaders. When grown in monoculture, however, the growth advantage of the invaders became smaller or even disappeared. Nitrogen form preference also disappeared in Siegesbeckia glabrescens (native) and Bidens frondosa (invasive). Interestingly, the native plant Xanthium sibiricum showed significantly higher total biomass than its invasive congener under ammonium addition in both mixed and monoculture conditions. Our 15N labeling experiment showed that all six species preferred nitrate over ammonium, although this was not significant for two natives (S. glabrescens and X. sibiricum), which is not completely consistent with the results from our nitrogen addition experiment. Our results indicate that global change-driven alterations in soil nitrogen forms, particularly the shift from ammonium to nitrate, may facilitate alien plant invasions. Planting patterns significantly affect the responses of invasive and native species to nitrogen forms and addition levels, with mixed-culture experiments providing better insights into the invasiveness of alien species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Invasive Plants)
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