Abstract: To clarify the invasion status of alien plants in the Lingshan Tourist Area of Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, assess their potential ecological risks, and develop classified prevention and control strategies, we combined field surveys and quadrat investigations to systematically record information of species composition, survival status, invasion intensity, and harmful characteristics of alien plants. Additionally, the Terrestrial Plant Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (TPS-ISK) developed based on the Australian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) system was used to evaluate the invasion risk of 17 alien plant species commonly used in landscaping and determine their respective risk levels. The results showed that a total of 75 alien plant species were recorded, belonging to 34 families and 59 genera. Asteraceae and Fabaceae were the dominant families, accounting for 20% and 9.3%, respectively. Herbs (accounting for 72.8%) significantly outnumbered woody plants, and the Americas were the primary regions of origin (accounting for 67.7%). Among the 75 alien species, 13 were listed in the first to fourth batches of invasive alien species in China, 45 (including the above 13 alien invasive species and six landscaping alien species) were recorded in the 2023 edition of the Catalogue of Invasive and Naturalized Alien Plants in China, 31 were used in urban landscaping, and five were crops. We further selected five invasive species and five alien crops with high frequency to test the applicability of TPS-ISK, and to conduct risk assessment on 17 landscaping alien species with invasion risks. The results showed that all the five invasive alien species, including Solidago canadensis, Erigeron canadensis, Phytolacca americana, Ipomoea purpurea, and Amaranthus retroflexus, were classified as high-risk. The five alien crops, including Citrullus lanatus, Cucurbita moschata, Solanum tuberosum, Ipomoea batatas, and Zea mays, were classified as low-risk. Among the 17 alien landscaping species, Trifolium pratense, Trifolium repens, and Canna indica were identified as high-risk; seven species including Portulaca grandiflora, Senna tora, and Cosmos bipinnatus were classified as medium-risk; and the remaining species were low-risk. Our results demonstrate that TPS-ISK is suitable for assessing the invasion risks of alien plants in the study area, and that alien landscaping plants should be managed through tiered prevention and control measures based on their assessed risk levels.

Key words: alien plant, invasion status, risk assessment, TPS-ISK