PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 39: Late Breaking and Newsworthy Posters
Friday, August 12, 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Impact of Lantana camara L. invasion on soil properties and herb layer diversity in dry deciduous forests, India.
Sharma, Gyan Prakash 1, Raghubanshi, A S 1, 1 Department of Botany, BHU, Varanasi, UP, India
ABSTRACT- Invasion of Lantana camara L. in dry deciduous forest is capable of causing changes in micro sites (soil properties and species composition) in which they invade. As lantana is most conspicuous invader in the Vindhyan dry deciduous forests of India. We analyzed the effect of this invasive species on the composition of herbaceous layer and on soil properties. Habitats with different level of canopy cover were analyzed. And the canopy cover was significantly related to the lantana cover. Results indicate that different levels of lantana cover affect soil properties and herbaceous species composition. We found as the lantana cover increases some of the species get locally extinct and some are favored by lantana invasion. Concentration of organic carbon (OC) and total nitrogen (TN), were significantly higher in habitats having large lantana cover. Thus we may conclude that lantana modifies the spatial pattern of herbaceous plant species and the chemical condition of soil there by generating spatial heterogeneity.
Key words: Local extinction, Soil properties, Species composition, Lantana camara