Biodiversity is severely declining worldwide and one of its main threats is invasion by exotic species. Successful management of these species requires citizens to be aware and engaged to prevent new introductions and support control interventions. We used questionnaires to investigate the knowledge and perceptions of Portuguese citizens aware of environmental issues, regarding invasive alien plants (IAPs). The influence of formal training in environmental areas vs. informal education about IAPs on the knowledge and perceptions of respondents was analysed. The results (735 responses) showed that environmentally conscious citizens have a great knowledge and awareness of IAPs (and biodiversity). While most respondents realize that IAPs negatively alter the landscape and cause negative impacts, some recognize that they can also have positive impacts and benefit the landscape. Formal training in environmental areas influences perception and increases knowledge about IAPs. In general, the opinion of whether a species should be removed or not was greatly influenced by the recognition of its invasive status, and less so by whether respondents liked or considered the species beautiful, suggesting that if citizens are informed about the invasive status of a species they are more willing to support its removal. More surprisingly, our results suggest that knowing the “Invasive Plants in Portugal” (Invasoras.pt) project, used as a proxy for higher awareness/informal education, increases knowledge and alters perceptions. Besides increasing understanding of IAPs' knowledge and perceptions among citizens, our work show that investing in public awareness projects pays off and can be focused on improving the planning of IAPs management strategies.

在世界范围内，生物多样性正在急剧下降，其主要威胁之一是外来物种的入侵。对这些物种的成功管理需要公民意识到和参与，以防止新的引进和支持控制干预措施。我们使用问卷调查了葡萄牙公民有关外来入侵植物（IAP）的环境问题的知识和看法。分析了环境领域的正规培训与IAP的非正式教育对受访者的知识和感知的影响。结果（735条回答）表明，具有环保意识的公民对IAP（和生物多样性）有丰富的知识和认识。尽管大多数受访者意识到，IAP会对面貌产生负面影响并带来负面影响，有些人认识到它们也可以产生积极的影响并造福整个地区。在环境领域的正式培训会影响认知并增加有关IAP的知识。一般而言，是否应删除某个物种的意见在很大程度上受其入侵状态的认识的影响，而受调查者是否喜欢或认为该物种美丽的意见则受到的影响较小，这表明如果公民了解某物种的入侵状态，则该看法不大。种他们更愿意支持其移除。更令人惊讶的是，我们的结果表明，了解“葡萄牙的入侵植物”（Invasoras.pt）项目，该项目被用作更高意识/非正式教育的代理，可以增加知识并改变观念。除了增进公民对IAP知识和看法的了解，