Globalization of social and economic activities has led to the large-scale redistribution of plant species. The issue of whether alien species are invasive and thus pose a threat to local ecosystems has attracted attention in recent years. The characteristics of invasive alien species and the mechanism of successful invasion are still unclear. Here, we downloaded plant trait data on TRY-Plant Trait Database and classified alien species into four groups: high, medium, noteworthy, and harmless according to their distribution and degree of harm to local plant communities. We clarified the relationship between plant functional traits and invasion level, and established a prediction model based on plant functional traits and taxonomy. Our study found that species with smaller seeds, smaller individuals, lower special leaf area and longer seed bank longevity are more likely to be an invasive species after introduction to foreign ecosystems. In addition, seed longevity and seed mass are important for plants’ invasion. In summary, exotic species with longer seedbank longevity and lower seed dry mass are more likely to be invasive in China. We also trained two predictive models based on the recursive split tree method to check if we can predict a species’ invasion. Combining the two model together, statistically, we could predict if a species is invasive from its traits and taxonomy with a 91.84% accuracy. This model could help local governments, managers and stakeholders to evaluate shall we introduce some plant species in China.

Tidal marsh wetlands in the Yellow River Delta provide valuable eco-services to the local population and global ecology. However, this area is suffering from serious degradation under the stresses of social development and climate change. Hydrological connectivity, a new framework in hydrology and ecology, has been proposed as the main factor affecting the ecological processes in coastal wetlands; however, its role in hydrology–soil–vegetation interactions remains unclear. In this study, the researchers parametrically quantified the hydrological connectivity in the tidal marsh wetlands and analyzed its relationship with Phragmites australis, one of the dominant species in this area. Our results showed threshold-like effects on the interaction between hydrological connectivity and P. australis on the plot scale. When biomass is lower than 2.2 kg/m2, the population density and structure size were found to increase with hydrological connectivity. When the biomass is higher than the threshold, the plots disconnected hydrologically because of high water consumption. Compared with soil chemistry, salinity, and water soil content, hydrological connectivity in the surface soil layer is more strongly linked to the plant traits and spatial structure in the tidal marsh wetlands due to the narrow ranges of other variables. Based on the authors’ analysis, the researchers do not recommend dense plantation of P. australis, especially near the freshwater sources in the tidal marsh, because of its high reproduction ability and competitive nature, which may cut the freshwater connectivity off, lowering the richness of plant species and habitat diversity.