Abstract: Plant invasion is one of the major drivers of global biodiversity loss and ecosystem functional degradation. The impacts of interactions of clonal reproduction, as an important trait of invasive plants, with CSR life history strategies on invasion processes remain unclear. Based on data related to the checklist of invasive alien plants, we analyzed the interactive effects of clonal characteristics (clonality and clonal organ types) and CSR strategy metrics on invasion impact levels and distribution range, using ordinal logistic regression models. The study used 96 invasive plant species for the clonality analysis and 38 clonal plant species for the clonal organ type analysis. The results showed that: (1) clonality generally had no direct effect on invasion impact levels, but significantly weakened the promoting effect of R strategy on distribution range. (2) CSR strategies exhibited different effects. R strategy was significantly negatively correlated with invasion impact levels and positively correlated with distribution range, while C strategy showed a marginally significant positive correlation with invasion impact levels and negatively correlated with distribution range. (3) Clonal organ types modulated the dispersal effects of C strategy. Stronger C strategy led to wider distribution in plants with above-ground clonal organs, while C strategy had negative effects on distribution range in plants with below-ground clonal organs, reflecting functional trade-offs between resource storage and competitive dispersal. This study revealed that clonality of invasive plants influenced plant invasion processes by modulating CSR strategies, and thus provided important theoretical basis for developing targeted invasion prevention and control strategies.

Key words: clonal trait, CSR ecological strategy, invasion impact level, distribution range, invasive plant management