China has become one of the countries hardest hit by invasive species, threatening its biodiversity and agricultural production, authorities said on Friday.

A total of 529 non-indigenous species have invaded the country since the 1980s, said Wang Yanliang, a Ministry of Agriculture official in charge of ecological and resources protection, at a meeting about invasive species in Chongqing Municipality.

Since the 1980s, China has seen fast growth in the number of introduced species that have adversely affected the ecosystem, he said. Over the past decade, more than 20 such species have wreaked havoc on farmlands, wetlands, forests, rivers, islands, and urban residential areas.

Chongqing Municipality, located in mountainous southwest China, boasts a rich ecology. Over the past four years, however, more than 50 non-indigenous species have dominated an area of two million hectares in the city.

China has established a research center to tackle the problem and issued a catalogue of dangerous exotic species prohibited by the country.