The establishment of the Giant Panda National Park has raised new requirements for the conservation of endangered species and biodiversity in nature reserves. However, with the increase of human activities, alien species have more opportunities to enter nature reserves and their surrounding areas, which may threaten the conservation of endangered species and biodiversity. In this study, Changqing and Taibai Mountain National Nature Reserves and their marginal areas in Shaanxi Province were taken as examples for analyzing the invasive status of alien plants as well as the influences of human activities and other factors on the invasion of alien plants in nature reserves. The results showed that 156 exotic plants were found in the study area, belonging to 42 families and 122 genera, among which 48 invasive species were found, belonging to 17 families and 37 genera, accounting for 30.77% of the total exotic plants. Nine and fourteen species were classified as malignant invader and serious invader, respectively. The numbers of exotic plant species and individuals were both negatively correlated with species richness, evenness, Simpson and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices. The number of exotic plants was negatively correlated with altitude and distance from the center of human activity. Our results indicate that, with the intensification of human disturbance, the above-mentioned nature reserves and their marginal areas in Qinling Mountains have suffered a high degree of exotic plants invasion, and these exotic plants have made significantly negative effects on the species diversity of local community. In conclusion, strengthening biological invasion prevention and control in nature reserves will be of great significance to maintain biodiversity and conserve endangered species in the Giant Panda National Park.

biological invasion; invasive plants; distribution pattern; human activities; nature reserves; the Giant Panda National Park