Dong Shengtianzi, Qin Tiantian, Xue Zhifang, Guo Wenchao, Wang Hanyue, Li Hongbin
The College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China.
The Key Laboratory of Oasis Town and Mountain-basin System Ecology, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Shihezi, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 May 19;16:1590709. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1590709. eCollection 2025.
Alien invasive plants pose a significant threat to global agricultural production, with functional traits playing a critical role in their spread and establishment processes. However, relevant research is scarce in oasis agroecosystems, which are more sensitive to global change. We studied oasis agroecosystems in Xinjiang, China, to explore the relationship between alien plant functional traits and invasion risk. A total of 611 sites comprising 9,165 plots were surveyed, covering an area of 22,474.73 hectares. Field surveys recorded species, density, and cover of alien plants, measuring traits related to growth, reproduction, and dispersal. Invasion risk was classified into four levels based on importance values. Random forest and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) modeling analyzed the relationship between functional traits and invasion risk, while MaxEnt modeling predicted potential distributions. We identified 62 alien plant species from 18 families and 44 genera, with Asteraceae and Amaranthaceae being the most represented families. High-risk invasive plants shared certain functional traits-specifically, high specific leaf area (SLA) and larger seed mass-which significantly enhance their invasion potential in oasis agroecosystems. The combination of these traits correlates with increased invasion risk. By incorporating SLA into the weighting of high-risk species distributions, we predicted potential distribution areas with an AUC value of 0.981. Our study identifies key functional traits enabling alien plant invasions in oasis agriculture, enhancing understanding of invasion mechanisms. Findings provide a foundation for predicting potential invasive species and developing management strategies to mitigate impacts on agricultural productivity and ecosystem services.
外来入侵植物对全球农业生产构成重大威胁，功能性状在其扩散和定殖过程中起着关键作用。然而，在对全球变化更为敏感的绿洲农业生态系统中，相关研究却很匮乏。我们对中国新疆的绿洲农业生态系统进行了研究，以探索外来植物功能性状与入侵风险之间的关系。共调查了611个样点，包括9165个样方，面积达22474.73公顷。实地调查记录了外来植物的种类、密度和盖度，测量了与生长、繁殖和扩散相关的性状。根据重要值将入侵风险分为四个等级。随机森林和极端梯度提升（XGBoost）模型分析了功能性状与入侵风险之间的关系，而最大熵模型预测了潜在分布。我们从18科44属中鉴定出62种外来植物，其中菊科和苋科的种类最多。高风险入侵植物具有某些特定的功能性状，特别是高比叶面积（SLA）和较大的种子质量，这显著增强了它们在绿洲农业生态系统中的入侵潜力。这些性状的组合与入侵风险的增加相关。通过将SLA纳入高风险物种分布的权重中，我们预测了潜在分布区域，AUC值为0.981。我们的研究确定了外来植物在绿洲农业中成功入侵的关键功能性状，增进了对入侵机制的理解。研究结果为预测潜在入侵物种和制定管理策略以减轻对农业生产力和生态系统服务的影响提供了基础。
