Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:03:13.632Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The association between invasive Lantana camara and seedlings/saplings of a plant community in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2014

Gaius Wilson ,
Ajay A. Desai ,
Dalice A. Sim ,
Monica A. M. Gruber  and
Philip J. Lester
Gaius Wilson*
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade 6140, Wellington, New Zealand
Ajay A. Desai
Affiliation:
84 BC Camp, Belgaum, Karnataka, 590 001, India
Dalice A. Sim
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Operations Research, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade 6140, Wellington, New Zealand
Monica A. M. Gruber
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade 6140, Wellington, New Zealand
Philip J. Lester
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade 6140, Wellington, New Zealand
*
1Corresponding author. Email: gaiuswilson@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

We examined changes in a community of seedlings/saplings 10–150 cm tall associated with the presence of a widely invasive plant, Lantana camara and environmental covariates along 67 randomly located transects, in Mudumalai, India. We compared plant species assemblage and grass cover in L. camara-invaded and uninvaded plots in three habitats. Multivariate analyses revealed a significant association of all environmental covariates with plant species assemblage. Pairwise tests indicated that L. camara was significantly associated with changes in plant species assemblage and grass cover within the moist and dry deciduous forest, but not in the thorn forest. The relationship between L. camara and that of elephant browse plants varied with species. A linear regression analysis indicated that L. camara invasion was the only significant predictor of grass occupancy. Our results indicate that in addition to other factors, L. camara was associated with altering plant species assemblage, some elephant browse plants and grass cover in the moist and dry deciduous forest. It appears that L. camara can have a major effect on diversity within this reserve, but whether this effect is by L. camara driving the change or being associated with other habitat change requires further experimental evidence.

Keywords

anthropogenic disturbanceelephantsgrass coverinvasive weedsLantana camaraplant species assemblage
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 30 , Issue 6 , November 2014 , pp. 551 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

ANGOLD, P. G. 1997. The impact of a road upon adjacent heathland vegetation: effects on plant species composition. Journal of Applied Ecology 34:409–417.Google Scholar
ATWATER, D. Z., BAUER, C. M. & CALLAWAY, R. M. 2011. Indirect positive effects ameliorate strong negative effects of Euphorbia esula on a native plant. Plant Ecology 212:1655–1662.Google Scholar
BASKARAN, N., BALASUBRAMANIAN, M., SWAMINATHAN, S. & DESAI, A. A. 2010. Feeding ecology of the Asian elephant Elephas maximus Linnaeus in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, southern India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 107:3–13.Google Scholar
BEDUNAH, D. J. 1992. The complex ecology of weeds, grazing and wildlife. Western Wildlands 18:6–11.Google Scholar
BERRY, Z. C., WEVILL, K. & CURRAN, T. J. 2011. The invasive weed Lantana camara increases fire risk in dry rainforest by altering fuel beds. Weed Research 51:525–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BRAITHWAITE, R. W., LONSDALE, W. M. & ESTBERGS, J. A. 1989. Alien vegetation and native biota in tropical Australia: the impact of Mimosa pigra. Biological Conservation 48:189–210.Google Scholar
BUCKLEY, Y. M., BOLKER, B. M. & REES, M. 2007. Disturbance, invasion and re-invasion: managing the weed-shaped hole in disturbed ecosystems. Ecology Letters 10:809–817.Google Scholar
BUTLER, J. L. & COGAN, D. R. 2004. Leafy spurge effects on patterns of plant species richness. Rangeland Ecology & Management 57:305–311.Google Scholar
CLARKE, K. R. & GORLEY, R. N. 2006. PRIMER v6: user manual and tutorial. PRIMER-E, Plymouth. 190 pp.Google Scholar
CLARKE, K. R. & WARWICK, R. M. 2001. Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. PRIMER-E, Plymouth. 176 pp.Google Scholar
DANIEL, J. C., DESAI, A. A., SIVAGANESAN, N., DATYE, H. S. & KUMAR, S. R. 1995. Ecology of the Asian elephant. BombayNatural History Society, Bombay. 90 pp.Google Scholar
DUGGIN, J. A. & GENTLE, C. B. 1998. Experimental evidence on the importance of disturbance intensity for invasion of Lantana camara L. in dry rainforest open forest ecotones in north-eastern NSW, Australia. Forest Ecology and Management 109:279–292.Google Scholar
EHRENFELD, J. G., KOURTEV, P. & HUANG, W. 2001. Changes in soil functions following invasions of exotic understory plants in deciduous forests. Ecological Applications 11:1287–1300.Google Scholar
FENSHAM, R. J., FAIRFAX, R. J. & CANNELL, R. J. 1994. The invasion of Lantana camara L. in Forty Mile Scrub National Park, north Queensland. Australian Journal of Ecology 19:297–305.Google Scholar
GENTLE, C. B. & DUGGIN, J. A. 1997a. Allelopathy as a competitive strategy in persistent thickets of Lantana camara L. in three Australian forest communities. Plant Ecology 132:85–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GENTLE, C. B. & DUGGIN, J. A. 1997b. Lantana camara L. invasions in dry rainforest – open forest ecotones: the role of disturbances associated with fire and cattle grazing. Australian Journal of Ecology 22:298–306.Google Scholar
GODEFROID, S. & KOEDAM, N. 2004. The impact of forest paths upon adjacent vegetation: effects of the path surfacing material on the species composition and soil compaction. Biological Conservation 119:405–419.Google Scholar
GOODEN, B., FRENCH, K., TURNER, P. J. & DOWNEY, P. O. 2009. Impact threshold for an alien plant invader, Lantana camara L., on native plant communities. Biological Conservation 142:2631–2641.Google Scholar
HIREMATH, A. J. & SUNDARAM, B. 2005. The fire–Lantana cycle hypothesis in Indian forests. Conservation and Society 3:26–42.Google Scholar
ISHWARAN, N. 1993. Ecology of the Asian elephant in lowland dry zone habitats of the Mahaweli River Basin, Sri Lanka. Journal of Tropical Ecology 9:169–182.Google Scholar
KUMAR, M. A. 2011. Population, foraging and activity pattern of gaur (Bos gaurus H. Smith, 1827) in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, southern India. Ph.D. thesis, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappally. 382 pp.Google Scholar
KUMAR, M. A., NAGARAJAN, R., ILAYARAJA, R., SWAMINATHAN, S. & DESAI, A. A. 2012. Impact of plant weeds on grass availability in Gaur (Bos gaurus H. Smith, 1827) foraging areas of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, southern India. Indian Forester 138:1131–1140.Google Scholar
LYM, R. G. & KIRBY, D. R. 1987. Cattle foraging behavior in leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula)-infested rangeland. Weed Technology 1:314–318.Google Scholar
MACDOUGALL, A. S. & TURKINGTON, R. 2005. Are invasive species the drivers or passengers of change in degraded ecosystems? Ecology 86:42–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MELGOZA, G., NOWAK, R. S. & TAUSCH, R. J. 1990. Soil water exploitation after fire: competition between Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) and two native species. Oecologia 83:7–13.Google Scholar
MORRISON, D. A., GARY, G. J., PENGELLY, S. M., ROSS, D. G., MULLINS, B. J., THOMAS, C. R. & ANDERSON, T. S. 1995. Effects of fire frequency on plant species composition of sandstone communities in the Sydney region: inter-fire interval and time-since-fire. Australian Journal of Ecology 20:239–247.Google Scholar
OLIVEIRA-FILHO, A. T., CURI, N., VILELA, E. A. & CARVALHO, D. A. 1998. Effects of canopy gaps, topography, and soils on the distribution of woody species in a Central Brazilian deciduous dry forest. Biotropica 30:362–375.Google Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, R. N. 1988. Megaherbivores, the influence of very large body size on ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 369 pp.Google Scholar
PRASAD, A. E. 2010. Effects of an exotic plant invasion on native understory plants in a tropical dry forest. Conservation Biology 24:747–757.Google Scholar
PRASAD, A. E. 2012. Landscape-scale relationships between the exotic invasive shrub Lantana camara and native plants in a tropical deciduous forest in southern India. Journal of Tropical Ecology 28:55–64.Google Scholar
RAIZADA, P. & RAGHUBANSHI, A. S. 2010. Seed germination behaviour of Lantana camara in response to smoke. Tropical Ecology 51:347–352.Google Scholar
RANGANATHAN, C. R. 1941. Working plan for the Nilgiris Forest Division. Government Press, Madras. 117 pp.Google Scholar
SCHOLES, R. J. & ARCHER, S. R. 1997. Tree-grass interactions in savannas. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 28:517–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SHARMA, G. P. & RAGHUBANSHI, A. S. 2007. Effect of Lantana camara L. cover on local depletion of tree population in the Vindhyan tropical dry deciduous forest of India. Applied Ecology and Environmental Research 5:109–121.Google Scholar
SILORI, C. S. & MISHRA, B. K. 2001. Assessment of livestock grazing pressure in and around the elephant corridors in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, South India. Biodiversity and Conservation 10:2181–2195.Google Scholar
SINCLAIR, A. R. E. 1975. The resource limitation of trophic levels in tropical grassland ecosystems. Journal of Animal Ecology 44:497–520.Google Scholar
SIVAGANESAN, N. 1991. Ecology and conservation of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) with special reference to the habitat utilization in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu. South India. Ph.D. thesis, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappally. 140 pp.Google Scholar
SIVAGANESAN, N. & SATHYANARAYANA, M. C. 1995. Tree mortality caused by elephants in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, South India. Pp. 314–330 in Daniel, J. C. & Datye, H. S. (eds.). A week with elephants. BombayNatural History Society and Oxford University Press, Bombay.Google Scholar
SRIVASTAVA, R. K. 2009. Mudumalai Tiger Reserve management plan. Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Ootacamund. 408 pp.Google Scholar
STANDISH, R. J., ROBERTSON, A. W. & WILLIAMS, P. A. 2001. The impact of an invasive weed Tradescantia fluminensis on native forest regeneration. Journal of Applied Ecology 38:1253–1263.Google Scholar
SWARBRICK, J. T., WILLSON, B. B. & HANNAN-JONES, M. A. 1998. Lantana camara L. Pp. 119–140 in Panetta, F. D., Groves, R. H. & Shepherd, R. C. H. (eds.). The biology of Australian weeds (2). R.G. & F.J. Richardson, Melbourne.Google Scholar
TERBORGH, J., LOPEZ, L., PERCY NUÑEZ, V., RAO, M., SHAHABUDDIN, G., ORIHUELA, G., RIVEROS, M., ASCANIO, R., ADLER, G. H., LAMBERT, T. D. & BALBAS, L. 2001. Ecological meltdown in predator-free forest fragments. Science 294:1923–1926.Google Scholar
TOTLAND, Ø., NYEKO, P., BJERKNES, A.-L., HEGLAND, S. J. & NIELSEN, A. 2005. Does forest gap size affect population size, plant size, reproductive success and pollinator visitation in Lantana camara, a tropical invasive shrub? Forest Ecology and Management 215:329–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILSON, G., DESAI, A. A., SIM, D. A. & LINKLATER, W. L. 2013. The influence of the invasive weed Lantana camara on elephant habitat use in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, southern India. Journal of Tropical Ecology 29:199–207.Google Scholar
WILSON, G., GRUBER, M. A. M. & LESTER, P. J. 2014. Foraging relationships between elephants and Lantana camara invasion in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, India. Biotropica 46:194–201.Google Scholar
WOODS, K. D. 1993. Effects of invasion by Lonicera tatarica L. on herbs and tree seedlings in four New England Forests. American Midland Naturalist 130:62–74.Google Scholar