Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Weeds as Emerging Threat to Biodiversity:A Consequence of Spread of Ludwigia peruviana in Dhansiri and Kopili Catchment Areas of Assam, North East India


Affiliations
1 Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785 013, India
2 Department of Agro-Meteorology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785 013, India
3 Evergreen Earth, Kakopathar, Tinsukia 786 152, India
 

Wetlands seem to be more vulnerable to invasions compared to terrestrial ecosystems. The alien invasive weed, Ludwigia peruviana, invading the wetlands of the Dhansiri catchment and eastern part of Kopili in Assam has threatened the resident biodiversity and has also posed possibilities of spreading to other wetlands of North East India. The present study was conducted to measure the impact of the weed on the biodiversity of this region, to find out the causes for increasing invasiveness and to suggest a suitable management strategy. The weed has already damaged the marshland plant community and offered severe competition to the plants of peatland ecosystems in nearly 700 sq. km in the affected areas. Pre-monsoon temperature and monsoon rainfall had strong positive correlation with the frequency of occurrence of the weed. L. peruviana showed the highest (nearly 52%) frequency of occurrence in the wetlands of the area in comparison to other troublesome weeds. It has already formed its pure-stand in the ecotone zone replacing resident vegetation and is severely hampering normal food webs. Birds and animals either nest or graze in L. peruviana-dominant areas, and the abundant waterways exhibit high probability of spreading the weed from the gullies and furrows and settlement areas in the near future. The seriousness of the problem calls for effective and timely management strategy.

Keywords

Biodiversity Loss, Catchments Areas, Invasion, Ludwigia peruviana.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Chandrasena, N., Ludwigia peruviana (L.) Hara and Ludwigia longifolia (DC) Hara in Sydney: from immigrants to invaders. Proc. Asian–Pacific Weed Sci. Soc. Conf., 2005, 20, 121–130.

  • Paul, T. K., A conspectus the family Onagraceae in India. Bull. Bot. Surv. India, 1998, 40(1–4), 1–22.

  • Barua, I. C., The genus Ludwigia (Onagraceae) in India. Rheedia, 2010, 20(1), 59–70.

  • Sampath-Kumar, V. and Sreekumar, P. V., Ludwigia peruviana L. Hara: a shrub new to Andamans. J. Econ. Taxon. Bot., 2000, 24(2), 276–278.

  • Rasingam, L., Aquatic and wetland plants of Little Andaman Island, India. J. Basic Appl. Biol., Spec. Issue: Wetlands, 2010, 52–59.

  • Choudhury, A., Choudhury, M., Choudhury, D. and Das, A. P., Ludwigia peruviana (Linnaeus) H. Hara [Onagraceae]: a new record for West Bengal, India. Pleione, 2013, 7(1), 286–289.

  • Report, AICRP on Weed Control, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, 1996, vol. 13, pp. 59–60.

  • Jacob, S. W. L. et al., Ludgwigia peruviana – Description and biology. In Proceedings of the 10th Australian and 14th AsianPacific Weed Conference (eds Swarbrick, J. T. et al.), The Weed Society, Brisbane, Queensland, 1993, vol. 1, pp. 225–228.

  • Raven, P. H., The Old World species of Ludwigia (including Jussiaea), with a synopsia of the genus (Onagraceae), Reinwardtia, 1963, 6(4), 327–427.

  • Choudhury, A., The distribution, status and conservation of Hoolock Gibbon, Hoolock hooloch, in Karbi Anglong district, Assam, Northeast India. In Primate Conservation, Electronic Publication, 2009, pp. 1–10.

  • The State of Forest Report, Government of India, Dehra Dun, 2001.

  • Mishra, K. C., Manual of Plant Ecology, Oxford & IBH, New Delhi, 1974.

  • http://kaagril.org/soilfer.asp?val=1, Soil Fertility, Department of Agriculture, Karbi Anglong, Diphu (accessed on 29 June 2015).

  • Sen, P. K., Estimates of the regression coefficient based on Kendall’s tau. J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 1968, 63, 1379–1389.

  • Mann, H. B., Nonparametric tests against trend. Econometrica, 1945, 13, 245–259.

  • Kendall, M. G., Rank Correlation Methods, Charless Griffith, London, 1975.

  • Sutomo, F. D. and Putri, L. S., Species composition and interspecific association of plant in primary succession of Monnt Merapi, Indonesia. Biodiversitas, 2011, 12(4), 212–217.

  • Rao, R. R., Biodiversity in India, Bishen Singh Mahendrapal Singh, Dehra Dun, 1994.

  • Chowdhury, S., Assam’s Flora, Assam Science, Technology and Environment Council, Guwahati, 2005.

  • http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/water/1m-alien-invaders-jun02.pdf, Management plan for Australian white ibis – Threskiornis molucca in the Bankstown local government area. Ecologically Sustainable Development Environment Unit in conjugation with The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2004; accessed on 3 February 2005.

  • Smith, R. L., Ecology and Field Biology, Harper & Row, 2nd Edition, 1974.

  • Bird Life International, Plegadis falcinellus. In IUCN Red List of Threatend Species, version 2012, p. 2.

  • Bauer, J. T., Invasive species: ‘back seat drivers’ of ecosystem change? Biol. Invasions, 2012, 14, 1295–1304.

  • http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/…/Ludwigia_peruviana.htm, 2013.

  • Paine, R. T., A note on trophic complexity and community stability. Am. Nat., 1969. 103, 91–93.

  • Krebs, C. J., Ecology. The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, Harper & Row, New York, 1985, 3rd edn.

  • Daily, G. C., Ehrlich, P. R. and Haddad, N. M., Double keystone birds in a keystone species complex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1993, 90, 592–594.

  • Lawton, J. H. and Jones, C. G., Linking species and ecosystem: organisms as ecosystem engineers. In Linking Species and Ecosystems (eds Lawton, J. H. and Jones, C. G.), Chapman & Hall, New York, 1995, pp. 141–150.

  • Kent, M. and Coker, P., Vegetation Description and Analysis, a Practical Approach, John Wiley, New York, 1992.

  • Ruprecht, E., Bartha, S., Botta-Dukat, Z. and Szabo, A., Assembly rules during old-field succession in two contrasting environments, Community Ecol., 2007, 8(1), 31–40.

  • Belyea, L. R. and Lancaster, J., Assembly rules within a contingent ecology. Oikos, 1999, 86(3), 402–416.

  • Dukat, B. Z., Analyzing associations among more than two species. Appl. Ecol. Environ. Res., 2006, 4(2), 1–19.

  • Das, A. K. and Siddique, L. A., A case study of heavy downpour over NE India. MAUSAM, 2012, 63(3), 503–507.

  • http://karbianglong.nic.in/agriculture.htm; updated on 29 August 2013.

  • Radosevich, S., Plant invasion and their management. In Invasive Plant Mangement:CIPM Online Textbook. Bozeman, MT: Centre for Invasive Plant Management, 2002; www.weedcenter.org/textbook/3_rados_invasion.html (updated in 2007).

  • Humphries, S. E., Groves, R. H. and Mitchell, D. S., Plant invasions of Australian ecosystems: a status review and management options. In Plant Invasions – The Incidence of Environmental Weeds in Australia, Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. Canberra, 1991, vol. 2, pp. 1–127.

  • Moore, R. M., An ecologist’s concept of a noxious weed: plant outlaw? J. Austr. Inst. Agric. Sci., 1975, 41, 119–121.

  • Panetta, E. D., A system of assessing proposed plant introductions for weed potential. Plant Prot. Q., 1993, 8, 10–14.

  • Hobbs, R. J., Invasive weeds: prevention is the key. In Invasive Weeds and Regenerating Ecosystems in Australia (eds Burke, G.), Proceedings of the Conference held at the Institute for Science and Technology Policy, Murdoch University, in July 1994, 1995.

  • Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute and Kleinfelder Tampa, F. L., Final report, Management of nuisance and exotic vegetation on phosphate mined lands in Florida, Publication no. 03-160-248, 2012, p. 58.

  • Pysek, P. and Richardson, D. M., Invasive species, environmental change and management, and health. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour., 2010, 35, 25–54.

  • Young, K. P., Environmental weeds in Tasmania, 1991; www.caws.org.au/awc/1993/awc199311591.pdf

  • Chandrasena, N., Pinto, L. and Sim, R., Reclaiming botany wetlands, Sydney through integrated management of Ludwigia peruviana and other weeds. In Proceedings of the 13 Australian Weeds Conference, 2002, pp. 134–137.


Abstract Views: 501

PDF Views: 122




  • Weeds as Emerging Threat to Biodiversity:A Consequence of Spread of Ludwigia peruviana in Dhansiri and Kopili Catchment Areas of Assam, North East India

Abstract Views: 501  |  PDF Views: 122

Authors

Iswar Chandra Barua
Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785 013, India
Jayanta Deka
Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785 013, India
Mitali Devi
Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785 013, India
Rajib L. Deka
Department of Agro-Meteorology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785 013, India
Janmoni Moran
Evergreen Earth, Kakopathar, Tinsukia 786 152, India

Abstract


Wetlands seem to be more vulnerable to invasions compared to terrestrial ecosystems. The alien invasive weed, Ludwigia peruviana, invading the wetlands of the Dhansiri catchment and eastern part of Kopili in Assam has threatened the resident biodiversity and has also posed possibilities of spreading to other wetlands of North East India. The present study was conducted to measure the impact of the weed on the biodiversity of this region, to find out the causes for increasing invasiveness and to suggest a suitable management strategy. The weed has already damaged the marshland plant community and offered severe competition to the plants of peatland ecosystems in nearly 700 sq. km in the affected areas. Pre-monsoon temperature and monsoon rainfall had strong positive correlation with the frequency of occurrence of the weed. L. peruviana showed the highest (nearly 52%) frequency of occurrence in the wetlands of the area in comparison to other troublesome weeds. It has already formed its pure-stand in the ecotone zone replacing resident vegetation and is severely hampering normal food webs. Birds and animals either nest or graze in L. peruviana-dominant areas, and the abundant waterways exhibit high probability of spreading the weed from the gullies and furrows and settlement areas in the near future. The seriousness of the problem calls for effective and timely management strategy.

Keywords


Biodiversity Loss, Catchments Areas, Invasion, Ludwigia peruviana.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv112%2Fi09%2F1904-1914