Volume 24, Issue 74, July - December, 2023

Mesosphaerum suaveolens (L.) Kuntz.: A serious threat to Uttarakhand’s first Ramsar site, India

Arun Pratap Mishra^1♦, Naveen Chandra², Amit Kumar¹, Sachin Sharma³, Gajendra Singh²

¹Department of Habitat Ecology, Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001, Uttarakhand, India
²Department of Forestry and Climate Change Division, Uttarakhand Space Application Center, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
³Department of Forest Ecology and Climate Change, Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Habitat Ecology, Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001, Uttarakhand, India

ABSTRACT

Biological invasions have significant ecological and environmental impacts on different ecosystems across the world. Wetlands well known as diverse and productive ecosystems provide critical habitat for a wide range of plant and animal species. However, these ecosystems are also grappling with the disruptive impacts of invasive plant species. The current communication aimed to assess the rapid invasion of Mesosphaerum suaveolens (L.) Kuntz. in the Asan Conservation Reserve (ACR), the first Ramsar site of Uttarakhand, India. Based on field investigations, the study revealed that M. suaveolens is rapidly spreading due to its high reproductive capacity and adaptability to thrive in a wide range of habitats in ACR. The species is encroaching on natural habitats of the wetland and poses a serious threat to survival of the native plant species. The findings of this study highlight the urgent need to control and monitor the invasion of M. suaveolens and develop area specific ecological restoration measures.

Keywords: Conservation, Ecosystem, Invasion, Threat, Wetland

Species, 2023, 24(74), e57s1558

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v24i74.e57s1558

Published: 02 July 2023