This species can grow quite quickly, suffocating trees and understory plants to the ground, but in the absence of supporting vegetation, it will creep along the ground. Large infestations have the potential to displace some local animals and replace native plants, which would reduce biodiversity. It is most prevalent in eastern Australia's coastal regions, where it frequently overruns riparian vegetation and riverbanks. It is a big issue in the remnants of the littoral rainforest. It also frequently invades the edges of the rainforest, where it grows over larger trees and smothers tree saplings and understorey vegetation. But it's also a weed of limestone cliffs, dry forests, marshes, and sandy beachfronts and other coastal settings. Ipomoea cairica, also known as coastal morning glory, is one of the top 30 environmental weeds in southeast Queensland and one of the top ten weeds in Gold Coast City. In Queensland, community groups actively control this species, and it may be found on several local environmental weed lists in south-eastern Queensland, including in Redland, Noosa, and Maroochy Shires. It also appears on a number of local and regional environmental weed lists (e.g. in Randwick Shire, Strathfield Shire, Lismore City, and Sutherland Shire, on the NSW North Coast environmental weed list, and on the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators environmental weed list for the wider Sydney and Blue Mountains region), which is of great concern in the coastal districts of northern and central New South Wales.