Zhaox

Invasive alien plants introduced outside their native ranges by human activities are spreading at unprecedented rates globally, posing significant threats to biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services. Nevertheless, plants invasion driven changes in ‘biodiversity–ecosystem function’ are scantily described in relation to ecosystem multifunctionality, especially in the face of climate change. To this end, climate factors, particularly Mean annual temperature (MAT), are often considered to influence both ecosystem functions and the impacts of plant invasions. However, there exists paucity of empirical evidences on how invasive plants and their interactions with climatic/abiotic variables like temperature affect ecosystem multifunctionality. In this study, we assessed the effects of invasive Xanthium species (Xanthium spinosum L. and Xanthium italicum Moretti) on ecosystem multifunctionality across temperature gradients in northwest China. Further, similar warming effects were assessed on congener indigenous species (Xanthium sibiricum Patr.) for pragmatic comparison.经人类活动引入原生分布范围以外的外来入侵植物，正以史无前例的速率在全球范围内扩散，对生物多样性、生态系统功能与服务构成显著威胁。然而，现有研究对植物入侵引发的“生物多样性-生态系统功能”变化与生态系统多功能性之间的关联仍鲜有报道，在气候变化背景下这一研究缺口尤为突出。鉴于此，气候因子——尤其是年平均温度（Mean annual temperature, MAT）——通常被认为会同时调控生态系统功能与植物入侵的影响效应。但目前关于入侵植物及其与温度等气候/非生物因子的交互作用如何影响生态系统多功能性的实证证据仍较为匮乏。本研究以中国西北地区不同温度梯度下的生境为研究对象，评估了入侵性苍耳属植物（刺苍耳Xanthium spinosum L.和意大利苍耳Xanthium italicum Moretti）对生态系统多功能性的影响。为开展有效对照，本研究同时针对同属本土物种苍耳（Xanthium sibiricum Patr.）的类似增温效应进行了评估。