Hyderabad: Invasive alien species of plants are eating into the natural biodiversity of forests in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and in urban landscapes including that of Hyderabad. The biodiversity boards of both states and the forest departments do not have any plan to tackle the issue.
The ENVIS Centre on Floral Diversity lists 173 invasive plant species across the country. The figure changes from one region to another.
In a paper published in April, researchers from Plant Systematics Laboratory, Kakatiya University, found 74 invasive alien species of just one flowering plant family, Asteraceae or the Aster family, in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This family includes the dangerous parthinium plant.
Cindrella weed
Calyptocarpus vialis (horse herb), Conyza bonariensis (with off-white flowes), Erigeron canadensis (horse weed) and Synedrella nodiflora (Cindrella weed) of this family are found in gardens and lawns in Hyderabad and RR districts.
Horse Herb
Chromolaena odorata, a flowering herb of the Asteraceae family, has spread aggressively in coastal AP and Telangana including in the Kinnersani and Eturnagaram sanctuaries putting local species at risk.
The researchers found in 17 years, three alien Asteraceae species have turned up in the region every two years on average.
Researchers from Andhra University’s department of botany found 87 invasive species in the Eastern Ghats forests of north Andhra districts.
Most of these are introduced by humans without proper planning and take over the local ecosystem. One example is of Prosopis juliflora, a shurb, which was introduced across the country to stop desertification of dry areas and for fuel.
The species has been found to suck up groundwater; it destroys the local ecosystem, hampers crop growth and its thorns injures humans and cattle.
Most of these invasive alien species belong to South American countries and Mexico.
A study published last year by researchers from the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, showed that more than half of AP and Telangana have high climate suitability for invasive species to thrive.
