Exploration of Plant Species in Relation to Invasive Alien Species in Natural and Man-made Ecosystem Services

A total of 119 species of plants were recorded in three sites of Kanchanpur of which 58 species were present at site 1, 83 species at site 2 and 68 species at site 3. The common species recorded in all sites were 23. These species belonged to 46 families of which family Poaceae (20) with highest number of species and family Rhamnaceae (1) with lowest number of species. On the basis of Importance Value Index (IVI) 16 plant species were recorded as dominant (IVI greater than 15.0) in all of the study sites. Of these, the maximum importance value index of dominant plant species was recorded by Cynodon dactylon (25.30) and minimum by Ludwigia octavalvis (0.06). Of the studied IAPS the frequent occurrence as per IUCN was recorded in the present study 11 species like Ageratum conyzoides, Amaranthus spinosus, Bidens pilosa, Hyptis suaveolens, Ipomea carnea, Lantana camara, Mimosa pudica, Parthenium hysterophprus, Senna occidentalis, Senna tora and Xanthium strumarium species. The analysis of IAPS proved that site 1 has 1 species, site 2 has 9 species and site 3 has 8 species. On the basis of IVI of the recorded invasive species, Ageratum conyzoides (30.29) was most dominant. In the reported species Lantana camara ranked in World�s 100 worst invasive species. Of the total 119 species of plants, the floristic analysis was highest 83 species at site 2, 68 species at site 3 and 58 species at site 1. The highest numbers of species were dispersed by means of human (24 %), and lowest by means of animal dung (2 %). The Shannon-Wiener index values were different in all sites i. e.6.9 at site 1, 3.73 at site 2 and 7.13 at site 3. The percentage similarity between three sites was 22.12 %, indicating a low degree of similarity of species between three sites. Impacts of invasive plant species on environment and human are positive as well as negative. In the present findings the impact of invasive species focused on natural and man-made ecosystem services.