Studies on Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk, Alappuzha District, Kerala
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Studies on Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk, Alappuzha District, Kerala Submitted by Principal Investigator Co- Principal Investigator Dr. Suhara Beevy S Dr. Kamarudheenkunju M Professor, Department of Botany, Associate Professor, University of Kerala, Department of Botany, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvanthapuram 2019 Studies on Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk, Alappuzha District, Kerala REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE KERALA STATE BIODIVERSITY BOARD BY PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR Dr. Suhara Beevy S AND CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR Dr. Kamarudheenkunju M 2019 Department of Botany University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram- 695581 Studies on Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk, Alappuzha District, Kerala 2019 File No. A8/3371/2018/KSBB Thiruvananthapuram Dated 01.12.2018 Team of experts Dr. Suhara Beey S Professor, Department of Botany, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram Dr. Kamarudheenkunju M Associate Professor, Department of Botany, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram Technical Assistance Dr. Mariamma Cherian Mr. Shibin V P Mr. Deepudas Mr. Arun Bahu B A Mr. Sali Palode CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1-3 2 Objectives 3 3 Materials and Methods 4-6 4 Results and Discussion 7-131 Identification of the invasive plant species in the flood 4.1 7-97 affected areas 4.2 New introduction 119-121 4.3 Current status of invasive plant species in Karthikappally taluk 121-123 Impact of plant invasiveness in agricultural fields of 4.4 124 Karthikappally Taluk Soil profiling conducted in the 17 villages of Karthikappally 4.5 124-129 Taluk Remedial measures and Recommendation for minimizing the 4.6 invasive plants species 129-132 5 Conclusion 133-134 6 Reference 135 7 Acknowledgement List of Tables TABLE NO. CONTENT PAGE NO. 1 Invasive plants reported in 9 the PBR-Cheppad village 2 Invasive plants identified 9-12 from Cheppad village 3 Invasive plants reported in 14-15 the PBR-Harippad Municipality 4 Invasive plants identified 15-18 from Harippad Municipality 5 Invasive plants reported in 19 the PBR-Kumarapuram village 6 Invasive plants identified 20-22 from Kumarapuram village 7 Invasive plants reported in 24-25 the PBR-Kandallor village 8 Invasive plants identified 25-28 from Kandallor village 9 Invasive plants reported in 30 the PBR-Karuvatta village 10 Invasive plants from 30-33 Karuvatta village 11 Invasive plant reported in 35 the PBR-Pallippad village 12 Invasive plants identified 36-39 from Pallippad village 13 Invasive plants reported in 41-42 the PBR-Arattupuzha village 14 Invasive plants identified 42-44 from Arattupuzha village 15 Invasive plants reported in 46-47 the PBR-Pathiyoor village 16 Invasive plants identified 47-52 from Pathiyoor village 17 Invasive plants reported in 53 the PBR-Chingoli village 18 Invasive plants identified 54-56 from Chingoli village 19 Invasive plants reported in 58-59 the PBR-Puthupally village 20 Invasive plants identified 59-61 from Puthupally village 21 Invasive plants reported in 62-63 the PBR-Karthikappally village 22 Invasive plants identified 63-66 from Karthikappally village 23 Invasive species reported in 68-69 the PBR-Veeyapuram village 24 Invasive plants identified 69-72 from the Veeyapuram village 25 Invasive species reported in 74 the PBR-Thrikunnapuzha village 26 Invasive plants identified 75-77 from Thrikunnapuzha village 27 Invasive plant reported in 79 the PBR-Muthukulam village 28 Invasive plants identified 79-82 from Muthukulam village 29 Invasive plant reported in 84 the PBR-Keerikkad village 30 Invasive plants identified 84-86 from Keerikkad village 31 Invasive plants reported in 88 the PBR-Cheruthana village 32 Invasive plants identified 88-92 from Cheruthana village 33 Invasive plants reported in 94 PBR-Krishnapuram village 34 Invasive plants identified 95-97 from Krishnapuram village 35 List of terrestrial spp. 98-114 identified from the study area during the present study 36 Invasive plants in wetland 114-116 system 37 Number of invasive spp. in 117-118 the different villages under the present study 38 Dominant invasive weeds in 120-121 the study area. KarthikappallyTaluk 39 Soil profiling from 17 125-126 villages of KarthkappallyTaluk 40 Recommendation for paddy 127-129 cultivation LIST OF FIGURE FIGURE CONTENT PAGE NO. NO. 1 Red alert districts of Kerala 2 2 Karthikappally Taluk 5 3 Data collection 4 Source of data collection- PBR 5 Source of data collection- PBR 6 Cheppad village 8 7 Harippad village 14 8 Kumarapuram village 18 9 Kandallor village 23 10 Karuvatta village 29 11 Pallippad village 34 12 Arattupuzha village 40 13 Pathiyoor village 45 14 Chingoli village 52 15 Puthuppally village 57 16 Karthikappally village 62 17 Veeyapuram village 67 18 Thrikunnapuzha village 73 19 Muthukulam village 78 20 Keerikkad village 83 21 Cheruthana village 87 22 Krishnapuram village 93 23 Familywise classification of invasive plant species 117 24 Invasive plant species diversity in terrestrial and wetland 118 ecosystem 25 Invasive plants species diversity in wetland ecosystem 119 26 Major invasive plants in agricultural field 27 28 29 Invasive species covered in the agricultural fields of different 30 villages 31 32 Dominant terrestrial invasive species in the study area of 122 Karthikappally Taluk 33 Dominant wetland invasive species in the 12 villages of 123 Karthikappally Taluk 34 Invasive species of Poaceae family 35 36 Mechanical Control- Method to invasive species 130 37 Chemical Controlling of invasive species 131 Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk INTRODUCTION The severe flood of August 2018 due to unusual rainfall in the monsoon season affected different regions of Kerala drastically. It was the worst flood in Kerala in nearly a century; over 483 people died, 14 are missing, about a million of people were evacuated and the entire agro-economic status of the state drastically destroyed. According to the Government of Kerala, 1/6th of the total population of Kerala had been directly affected by the flood. India government declared Kerala flood as level 3 calamities or calamity of severe nature. The flood drastically affected the 8 districts of Kerala (Figure 1). The drastic effects of flood totally changed the agricultural status of the State and caused the total destruction of the entire crops. The effects of flood also opened gates to some non-native plant species known as alien invasive plants into these areas. INVASIVE PLANTS Invasive plants are those which are introduced as alien, exotic and non-indigenous species non-native to that locationbut very aggressive causing damage to the other plant species, human health and economic structure (Mack et al.2000, Saxena 1991). Invasion of exotic plant species leads to biodiversity losses (Inderjit et al. 2008, Rastogi et al. 2015) which chiefly include disruption of natural ecosystem processes, alteration of soil chemistry preventing the regrowth of native plants and economic crops and increased soil erosion. In India about 42% of the weeds in crop fields are aliens (Khuspe et al.1982, Nandpuri et al.1986) which caused 30% loss in crop production (Singh 1996). These plants have the potential to change the native plant biodiversity by forming dense colonies, competed aggressively and forced out the native plants. The major characteristics shown by invasive plants include rapid growth and short life cycle, resource uptake and use efficiency, prolific flowering and high seed production, 1 Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk ability to grow in a wide range of habitats, high genetic variability and evolutionary genetics, long seed dormancy and staggered germination, efficient method Figure 1. Red alert districts of Kerala 2 Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk of seed dispersal, capacity of modifying invaded environment, ability to reproduce sexually/asexually, ability to use local pollinators, different phenology from native species allowing them to out compete, provide shade, which can be a great detriment for native plants, resistant to grazing, pests and diseases etc.The present study is aiming to interpret the vulnerability of our biodiversity due to invasiveness of different unused plants species by the flood during 2018 in the Karthikappally Taluk of Alappuzha District. OBJECTIVES To identify the invasive alien plant species in the flood affected areas of Karthikappally Taluk, Alappuzha District, Kerala To find out the new taxa, if any after flood To study the current status of those invasive species To study the impact of invasiveness in agricultural fields of Karthikappally Taluk To suggest remedial measures for minimizing those species 3 Invasive Alien Plant Species in the Flood Affected Areas of Karthikappally Taluk MATERIALS AND METHODS STUDY AREA The area selected for the study is Kathikappally Taluk, Alappuzha District. Karthikappally Taluk is located in the upper Kuttanad region with North Latitude- 90.05‟ and 90.54‟ and East Longitude- 76.017‟ 30” and 76.040‟. Kuttanad in Alappuzha is known as the “Rice bowl of Kerala”. Rice cultivation followed by tapioca, sesame, coconut trees, plantains and pepper are the major agricultural practices in this area. Taluk area consists of 22.46 km2 of low land. Karthikappally Taluk is bordered with North Ambalapuzha and Kuttanad, East Chengannur and Mavelikara, West Arabian