During my field visit at Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR) of Nepal. I found that the south eastern part of reserve was free from Mikania micrantha invasion whereas the south western part (having border with Chitwan National Park) was invaded. Through observation and survey, I found that the geology of the south western was much more fragile and consisted of gravels that lacked water. Even geo-morphological observation showed that the water was flowing deep downward at subsurface level. So, can I say that the arid nature of soil at the area has prevented this area from Mikania plant invasion?
Hi
distribution of each species need its unique environment. i think its better for your project to scrutinize height, topography, climate such as raining and moisture. moreover soil texture is very impotant. you can compare two soil elements in two different region which has different species distribution.
Regards
Mikania micrantha thrives well in wet areas. Arid environments may adversely affect in the population density of the species. However, other abiotic conditions such as soil salinity levels and biological factors in that locality should also be examined.
There is the matter of how complete the barrier is. Any moist corridor leading from the current range to the one that you would like to keep it out of could be a problem. One would also have to understand the current spread pathways. If jump dispersal is common, then barriers are unlikely to be effective.
Moisture, pH, organic matter plays a significant role in seed germination. This may be the reason which hampers the germination and growth of Mikania. Artificially you may place some seeds there and make conclusion.
Changes of soil moistness is an important concern today for most climatologist, environmentalist and biologist. The climate change effects are responsible for reduction of soil moisture and; hence, once the soil of an area was with high moisture, now become less or dry. For that, soil moisture have important control over the distribution of dry forest and moist forest in any region.
This is the reason that, Sal forests are shifting towards the northeastern region from a northwestern direction due to climate change.
Ref: Chitale VS, Behera MD. 2012. Can the distribution of sal (Shorea rousta) shift in northeaster direction in India due to changing climate? Curr Sci. 102(8):11261135.
Thank you guys for your variety of feedback, I will come up with more interesting findings from my project.
Indeed I would say that moisture could be potentially a reason to the presence/ absence of Mikania micrantha in these two regions, occuring where moisture is more than 15 %. This plant thrives well in damp area. But other factors affecting its occurrence have been mentioned above. Also, it is promoted by fire in 2-, 4- and 8-year-old fallows that develop after slash-and-burn agriculture.
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