Are the anthropized Cerradão of the Cerrado-Pantanal ecotone resistant to alien species invasion?

Alien species pose a potential threat to biodiversity, necessitating vigilant monitoring to inform effective control strategies and prevent their invasiveness. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of alien species on the richness, horizontal structure, and diversity of the tree–shrub layer within a Cerrado-Pantanal transition region fragment. A floristic census was conducted across a fragment of approximately 3.0 ha, measuring all individuals with an aboveground diameter (DAG) ≥ 5.0 cm. The study assessed the statistical significance of diversity variation in the presence and absence of alien species using the Hutcheson t-test and examined the correlation between the proportion of alien species and various community parameters through Pearson’s correlation. The findings revealed a total of 84 species belonging to 34 families, with a total of 2218 recorded individuals. Notably, eight species (9.52