Spatial correlation network characteristics and influencing factors of urban ecological vulnerability in the Yellow River Basin, China.

Plant invasion poses a serious threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functions, while habitat heterogeneity significantly affects the invasion trend along latitudinal gradients. We reviewed the research progress on plant invasion and its biological interaction patterns along latitudes over the past decade. The phenotypic plasticity and ecolo-gical adaptability of many invasive plants increase with increasing latitude, thereby exacerbating the homogenization of native plant communities in high-latitude regions. The occurrence of natural enemy insects, insect feeding rates, soil pathogenic fungal infection rates, and feedback effects with soil biota of invasive/native plants exhibit asymme-tric patterns along latitudinal gradients. Climate warming has altered the multi-trophic interactions in invaded habitats, intensifying the "natural enemy release effect" of invasive plants and the "non-target effect" of invasion control in high-latitude regions. Future research should focus on exploring the redistribution of different functional secondary metabolites within invasive plants along latitudinal gradients; elucidating the latitudinal patterns and synergistic effects of "aboveground-belowground" interactions in invaded ecosystems based on multi-factor and multi-trophic interaction networks; investigating the functional trait evolution of invasive plants across latitudes and the phylogenetic relationships of co-existing plants in invaded areas; and comprehensively utilizing emerging technologies to reveal the molecular basis, co-evolution mechanisms, and latitudinal differentiation patterns of biological interactions in invasive plants. This study would deepen the understanding of plant invasion mechanisms and the prevention and control of biological invasions under global change.