Exotic Plants And Its Invasion Risk Assessment In Northern Shaanxi Province

Northern Shaanxi,as the national important energy base,with the continuous development of economy,has made the transportation and communication with international trade more and more convenient and frequent,which resulted in more and more exotic plants implanting into Northern Shaanxi.The interference of them on local natural environment,biodiversity,ecosysterm has become more serious,and brought tremendous negative impact on the local agriculture,forestry and so on.However,the present situation,distribution,features and potential risks of exotic plants are poorly studied.Through literature review,specimen examination,and field survey,this study obtained a preliminary database of exotic plants in Northern Shaanxi,which were then filtered and compiled via consulting related experts and investigating professional books in the field of plant identification to generate a final database of invasive plants in Northern Shaanxi.Based on the analysis of present exotic plants and invasive plants in Northern Shaanxi,this paper proposed a framework to assess risk of invasive plants.Besides,this paper also proposed management policies based the risk assessment results of invasive plants,providing theories to guide the introduction,biodiversity study and ecological security of exotic plants in Northern Shaanxi.The recent progress and main conclusions are as below:(1)Exotic plants in Northern Shaanxi were investigated and analyzed,and exotic plants directory of 541 species were developed in Northern Shaanxi,including 101 families and 276 genera.(2)Exotic plants in Northern Shaanxi were screened,and a list of 32 invasive plants in Northern Shaanxi was obtained,involving 14 families and 28 genera.(3)The risk assessment system of invasive plants in Northern Shaanxi was established according to seven aspects including introduction,establishment,diffusion,environmental adaptation,invasion distribution(invasion history),harm and prevention of invasive plants.32 species of invasive plants and 5 species of non-invasive plants were selected to test the risk assessment system.The results showed that the system was feasible and operable.According to the risk levels,the risk classification standard was determined,and the risk assessment of invasive plants in Northern Shaanxi was conducted.(4)Management recommendations and policies were proposed on further investigation,realization enhancement,reasonable prevention and control,exotic plant database development and mapping the distribution of invasive plants in Northern Shaanxi.