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Invasive Plants Diversity, Ecological Status, and Distribution Pattern in Relation to Edaphic Factors in Different Habitat Types of District Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, Pakistan

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submitted on 2023-12-25, 08:02 and posted on 2024-01-10, 11:09 authored by Muhammad Danish Jamil, Muhammad Waheed, Shamim Akhtar, Nazneen Bangash, Sunbal Khalil Chaudhari, Muhammad Majeed, Mumtaz Hussain, Kishwar Ali, David Aaron Jones

Our understanding of the diversity and distribution of living things is crucial to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Because biological invasions by alien species pose a significant threat to native biodiversity, tracking alien species at various geographical scales has recently gained prominence. The current study is designed to evaluate the diversity and composition of invasive plants in different habitats of Mandi Bahuddin, Punjab, Pakistan. The investigation explores the impact of environmental factors on the distribution of alien species in association with edaphic and geographic patterns. Diversity patterns, ecological impact, and the distribution of alien species with respect to environmental variables were recorded. A randomized sampling technique was used taking data from 120 sites with triplet quadrates in each, 360 overall, between 2019 and 2021 to record the data on alien flora and associated environmental variables. Important value indices for each alien species were determined with respect to environmental data, by cluster and ordination analysis. Overall, 43 invasive alien plants from 37 genera and 18 families were documented in the district Mandi Bahuddin. The prominent family was Poaceae with ten species (23.25%) followed by Leguuminosae with six species (13.95%), Compositae with five species (11.62%), Amaranthaceae with three species (6.97%), and Convolvulaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae, Polygonaceae, and Scrophulariaceae with two species each (4.65%). Out of 65 alien species comprised herbs 52.13%, grasses 23.25%, shrubs 9.30%, and trees 9.30%. In case life form Therophyte (48.83%) was leading, followed by Chamaephyte with (16.27%) species, Nanophanerophyte and Megaphanerophyte with (11.62%) species each, Geophyte with (6.97%) species, and Hemicryptophyte with (4.65%) species. With leaf size spectra, microphylls (41.86%) were dominating and followed by mesophylls (27.90%), leptophylls (13.95%), nanophylls (11.62%), and macrophylls (4.65%). PCA was applied in order to further understand the species distribution and abundance pattern and to find significant connections among the species with sampling locations comprising various habitats. Ward’s agglomerative clustering technique classified the one hundred and twenty transects into four major groups. Ordination analysis showed that different ecological factors had a significant (p ≤ 0.002) influence on vegetation. The current study provides a foundation from which to comprehend the influences of environmental variables on alien plants’ composition, diversity, structure, and links. These will be useful for developing scientifically informed management strategies for use by administrative agencies in the ecological restoration of the degraded habitat of the studied area.

Other Information

Published in: Sustainability
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su142013312

Disclaimer: The University of Doha for Science and Technology replaced the now-former College of the North Atlantic-Qatar after an Amiri decision in 2022. UDST has become and first national applied University in Qatar; it is also second national University in the country.

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

MDPI

Publication Year

  • 2022

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Institution affiliated with

  • University of Doha for Science and Technology
  • College of General Education - UDST
  • College of Health Sciences - UDST
  • College of the North Atlantic - Qatar (2002-2022)
  • School of General Education - CNA-Q (2002-2022)

Geographic coverage

Pakistan

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