Alien Invasive Plants in Wuyishan City, China

Wuyishan, which is accredited by the UN as Natural and Cultural World Heritage, is extremely rich in biodiversity. To better protect the local ecology, the alien invasive plants in Wuyishan City were studied based on the field investigation, samples collection, specimen identification and literature review. The species composition, geographical origin, life form, introduction pathways and invasiveness were analyzed in the paper. The results showed that there were 67 alien invasive species in Wuyishan City, belonging to 27 families and 56 genera. The four families(Asteraceae, Poaceae, Amaranthaceae and Fabaceae) occupied a total of 36 species, accounting for 53.7% to total invasive species. With respect to the life form of these invasive plants, the terrestrial herb including 56 species(83.6%) was the most abundant. Up to 47 species(70.2%) were originated from the Americas. 37 species were introduced intentionally and 30 species were introduced unintentionally. In addition, based on the invasiveness, potential dangerousness, occurrence frequency and population density, the alien invasive plants in Wuyishan City were divided into three invasive degree, 11 species(16.4%) were regarded as the highest degree of threat to the local biodiversity, such as Alternanthera philoxeroides, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Sorghum halepense, Eichhornia crassipes, etc. The field investigation showed that some invasive species have caused serious harm, e.g. Bidens frondosa, Conyza canadensis, Ageratum conyzoides, Gynura crepidioides, Aster subulatus and Imperata cylindrical etc. Finally, based on the current situation of alien invasive species in Wuyishan City and comparative analysis of alien invasive species in Jiangxi Province and Zhejiang Province, some control strategies of alien invasive plants were suggested in order to prevent them from further dispersing and causing ecological disaster in Wuyishan City.