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The Advancing Dominance of Ageratum conyzoides L. and Lantana camara L. in a dry Tropical Peri-urban Vegetation in India

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Botany, I. P. (Post-Graduate) College, Bulandshahr-203001, UP, INDIA

Int. Res. J. Environment Sci., Volume 2, Issue (11), Pages 88-95, November,22 (2013)

Abstract

The growing significance of Lantana camara and Ageratum conyzoides in dry tropical peri-urban vegetation was investigated to assess their impact on vegetation structure and soils. While Ageratum occurred at about 85% of the sampled locations, Lantana was at only 26%. The phytosociological analysis of two Ageratum infested sites LTI (long-term recurrently infested) and STI (short-term infested) showed the presence of 46 angiospermic flora in total, distributed over 24 families (23 dicot and 1 monocot), 40 at LTI and 23 at STI. Ageratum and Cynodon dactylon were the leading dominants at both sites accounting for 57% at LTI and 70.3% at STI in terms of IVI. However, in terms of biomass contribution by Ageratum alone, it accounted for 70.8% of total plant biomass at LTI and 82.9% at STI site. The similarity between the plant communities at these two sites in terms of Sorenson index was 0.63. The soils at LTI site showed higher moisture content, total Nitrogen and Organic Carbon (%) compared to STI. However, available P, S, Zn, Fe, Mg, Cu and exch. K were comparable at both sites. Diversity was also higher at LTI site. The dominance-diversity curve of the plant communities at STI and LTI sites showed geometrical pattern of resource share. In conclusion, the structure of peri-urban vegetation, diversity and soils are greatly impacted by the invading species Lantana camara and Ageratum conyzoides in Indian dry tropics, by virtue of superior dry matter build-up capacity.

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