紫茎泽兰(Eupatorium adenophorum)是20世纪40年代经中缅边境传入我国的一种外来入侵种,原产于中美洲的墨西哥和哥斯达黎加,现已在我国南方和西南地区广泛分布,并且其蔓延速度极快,引起了社会各界的广泛关注。近年来,随着研究的不断深入和拓展,新的研究成果不断涌现,使紫茎泽兰成功入侵的机理性问题不断被揭示出来。该文简要介绍了目前我国关于紫茎泽兰研究的几个热点问题,这些问题主要围绕着紫茎泽兰的分布和预测、入侵扩散机制以及防除方法3个方面展开。其中以紫茎泽兰作为典型外来入侵种来研究其入侵扩散机制的工作最多。该文就目前的研究进展做一综述,并提出今后的研究建议。

Eupatorium adenophorum, native to Mexico and Costa Rica of Central America, is a worldwide noxious invasive weed. It occurs throughout many terrestrial areas of the world and is especially rampant in Southeast Asia, Hawaii (U.S.), New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Since its invasion to China from the boundaries of Vietnam and Burma, the speed of its spread has been faster than anticipated, particularly in the southern and southwestern parts of the country. Presently, E. adenophorum can be found in Chongqing, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Tibet, Guangxi, Taiwan and Hubei Provinces. A rough estimate of the annual spreading rate of E. adenophorum is about 10-60 km from south to north and from west to east in China. It is considered a threat to local economy and biodiversity. As a result, an increasing number of Chinese scientists have become interested in studying this species and much progress in understanding the biology and ecology of this species has been made to date. In particular, much is known about the underlying mechanisms of its invasion biology.
This paper reviews some of the hot research topics of this invasive species in China, including its distribution, predicting its potential distribution, the mechanisms underlying its invasion and spread, and methods for control and elimination. The distribution of this invasive plant in China has been mapped and its potential distribution has been predicted using a computer model based on climatic factors.
Among current research efforts, understanding the mechanisms underlying its invasion and spread is one of the hottest topics. Recent research also has studied the patterns of genetic variation within populations of the invasive weed, novel biochemical mechanisms of interspecies interactions, biological characteristics of the invasive species that explain its highly successful spread, e.g., small seed size, persistent soil seed bank, high offspring production, potential long-distance dispersal of propagules, vegetative reproduction, relatively high CO₂ fixation capacity, shade tolerance, high adaptive ability, and tight link of life-history traits with climatic rhythm.
Although much progress in understanding the biology and ecology of this species has been achieved, there have been no dramatic breakthroughs on how to control E. adenophorum so far. At present, control methods of E. adenophorum are divided into three general categories: manual, chemical and biological control. Biological control is considered the most promising sustainable control strategy for this weed. Several natural enemies and pathogens have been reported that might be able to control the reproduction of this weed, such as Procecidochares utilǐs, Cercospora eupatorii and Alternaria alternata.
The current status of research on the invasive species, E. adenophorum, was reviewed in this paper. Five areas of future research have been proposed: 1) modeling long-distance seed dispersal; 2) allelopathic mechanisms of invasion; 3) ecophysiological adaptations of the invasive species; 4) breeding system of the invasive species; and 5) effective biological control of the invasive species, especially the potential role of genetically engineered fungi.