Exotic plant species with longer seed bank longevity and lower seed dry mass are more likely to be invasive in China

Globalization of social and economic activities has led to the large-scale redistribution of plant species.It is still unclear how the traits aid the successful invasion of alien species.Here,we downloaded global plant trait data from the TRY-Plant Trait Database and classified alien species in China into four groups:high,medium,need attention and harmless according to their distribution and degree of harm to local plant communities based on existed studies.The relationship between plant functional traits and invasion level was clarified,and we established a prediction model based on plant functional traits and taxonomy.The results showed that species with smaller seeds,smaller individuals,lower special leaf area and longer seed bank longevity(SL)are more likely to be an invasive species after introduction to foreign ecosystems.In summary,exotic species with longer SL and lower seed dry mass are more likely to be invasive in China.We also trained two predictive models to check if we can predict a species’invasion.Combining the two models 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.

A WEPp-Water Quality model for simulating nonpoint source pollutants in nonuniform agricultural hillslopes:Model development and sensitivity

The Water Erosion Prediction Project(WEPP)model code was modified extensively to support the simulation of nonpoint source(NPS)pollutant sourcing and transport in nonuniform hillslopes based on NPS science from the Soil and Water Assessment Tool(SWAT).This was accomplished utilizing WEPP's overland flow element(OFE)in place of SWAT's hydrologic response unit(HRU)construct which enabled more physically plausible routing within a hillslope.In addition,several improvements to the NPS code base were implemented.These include:free-source format,modern-Fortran conventions,minor enhancements to NPS model science,and code refactoring.This manuscript documents all model development activities,presents a comparison of relevant WEPP and WEPP-WQ code bases,and performs a local sensitivity analysis of the final model code for the most important input parameters and processes.Sensitivity results indicated that the model performed as expected according to its design and provided important insights for potential subsequent validation studies.