Increased soil moisture aggravated the competitive effects of the invasive tree Rhus typhina on the native tree Cotinus coggygria.

Rhus typhina has greater capacity to relatively stable growth to the drought condition than C. coggygria and has strong competition advantages in the mixture with C. coggygria, especially in the drought condition. Our study will help understand the causes of invasiveness and wide distribution of R. typhina under various moisture conditions and predict its expansion under climate change scenarios.