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Socioecological risks amplified by rising plant invasions in India

Nature Sustainability volume 9, pages 130–141 (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Invasive plants, alongside other global changes, are transforming ecosystems globally. Strategic responses depend on monitoring invasions and arising socioecological risks particularly in the biodiverse and socioeconomically vulnerable regions. Using 16 years (2006–2022) of systematic monitoring over 277,000 km2 in India, we analyse the nexus between plant invasions and global changes, including propagule pressure, forest warming and drying, altered fire and herbivory dynamics and rapid land-use transformation. Annually, ~15,500 km2 of natural areas are invaded by at least one new species, exposing ~11,200 km2 of herbivore occupancy to forage loss. These invasions potentially limit resources for tiger food chains across ~5,950 km2 annually. Invasions have exposed 144 million people, 2.79 million livestock and 0.2 million km2 of smallholder agriculture to cascading impacts. By identifying socioecological risk hotspots for prioritizing investments, our findings offer critical insights to guide targeted restoration and safeguard biodiversity and vulnerable livelihoods.

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Fig. 1: Methodological framework of the study.
Fig. 2: Sixteen-year trends in invasive plant expansion.
Fig. 3: Effect size of the drivers of invasive plant distribution and expansion.
Fig. 4: Socioecological exposure to invasive alien plant expansion.
Fig. 5: High-risk zones for management priority.

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Data availability

The dataset is available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17287410 (ref. 62).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi for funding support (grant to Y.V.J. and Q.Q.) and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for facilitating the study. We thank the State Forest Departments and researchers involved in the tiger project. We thank R. Gopal for constant support and encouragement. We thank Tiger cell, MSTrIPES team and SCIENCE, Dehradun, for all the support. Y.V.J. received the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Senior Scientist scheme funding at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) while writing the paper. We consider this work to also be a contribution to the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) (grant DNRF173 to J.-C.S.) and VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World’ (grant 16549 to J.-C.S.). We thank Earthkeeper for economic support via the Global South Biodiversity Leadership Project (grant GLOBALI to J.-C.S.).

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Author notes

  1. These authors jointly supervised this work: Yadvendradev V. Jhala, Jens-Christian Svenning, Qamar Qureshi.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Ninad Avinash Mungi & Jens-Christian Svenning

  2. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India

    Ninad Avinash Mungi, Yadvendradev V. Jhala & Qamar Qureshi

  3. Indian National Science Academy; National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India

    Yadvendradev V. Jhala

Authors
  1. Ninad Avinash Mungi
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  2. Yadvendradev V. Jhala
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  3. Jens-Christian Svenning
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  4. Qamar Qureshi
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Contributions

N.A.M., Y.V.J., J.-C.S. and Q.Q. conceptualized the study and formulated the general approach. Y.V.J. and Q.Q. administered the project and funding for sampling and data curation. J.-C.S. acquired funding for analysis and preparation of the paper. J.-C.S., Y.V.J. and Q.Q. supervised the study. N.A.M and Y.V.J. curated and analysed the data. N.A.M. drafted the paper, and J.-C.S., Y.V.J. and Q.Q. contributed to improve the drafts. All authors reviewed the contents and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Ninad Avinash Mungi or Yadvendradev V. Jhala.

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Mungi, N.A., Jhala, Y.V., Svenning, JC. et al. Socioecological risks amplified by rising plant invasions in India. Nat Sustain 9, 130–141 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01690-x

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