India Express Buzz
Saturday, May 23, 2009 7:42 AM IST

*
* RSS
* |
* LiveCricket
* |
* E-Paper

Indian Express

* Home
* Elections
* Nation
* Cities
* States
* World
* Business
* Opinion
* Sport
* Entertainment
* LifeStyle
* Arts
* Magazine

* Bangalore
* |
* Chennai
* |
* Hyderabad
* |
* Kochi
* |
* Thiruvananthapuram
*

* Andhra Pradesh
* |
* Karnataka
* |
* Kerala
* |
* Orissa
* |
* Tamil Nadu
*

* Columnists
* |
* Editorials
* |
* Op-Ed
* |
* Time Out
*

* Southern Glitz
* |
* Bollywood
* |
* Hollywood
* |
* Television
*

* Fashion
* |
* Food
* |
* Travel
* |
* Technology
* |
* Health
* |
* Cars
*

* Books
* |
* Music
* |
* Miscellany
*

40% of Indian flora alien


Express News Service
First Published : 22 May 2009 03:42:00 AM IST
Last Updated :

CHENNAI: More than 40 per cent of the plant species in the country are alien, of
which 25 per cent are invasive, said Prof D Narasimhan of Madras Christian
College. Most Invasive Alien Species are post-Columbian introd-uctions, and many
of the Aquatic Invasive Species were introduced as ornamentals.

With new organisms like the deadly influenza A (H5N1) attacking human beings and
animals in both tropical and temperate countries, researchers and experts on
plant and animal species point out the urgent need in addressing the issue of
invasion of alien species.

The new organisms are drug resistant and even multi-drug resistant, thus
becoming deadly, said Soumya Swaminathan, Director, Tuberculosis Research
Centre. They are also behind emerging infections and re-emerging infections like
Tuberculosis, she said.

The threat of invasion by alien organism is not just confined to the health of
animals and human beings, the invasion by alien species are causing severe
damage to the environment and the economy.

With more and more alien species entering the biosphere, the native species are
being wiped out, thus causing an imbalance in the ecology. “The habitat and
the scope of regeneration of the native species declines with the alien
invasion,” said Dr Nandita Krishna, director, CPR Foundation.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has put 45 tree
species across India on its “Red List of Threatened Plant Species 2007” as
being “critically endangered”. It has flagged 247 tree species in India as
“threatened”.

IUCN is the biggest conservation body with 83 member countries. The list itself
maintains that this could be because of poor regeneration and habitat decline.

Major invasive weeds are Parthenium hysterophorus, Eupatorium adenophorum,
Eupatorium odoratum, Mikania micrantha, Ageratum conyzoides, Galinsoga
parviflora and Lantana.

Most nations are grappl-

ing with costly invasive problems like that of Zebra mussels affecting
fisheries, mollusc diversity and electric power generation; the water hyacinth
blocking waterways and decimating aquatic waterways.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=40%+of+Indian+flora+alien&ar\
tid=1QyDADHxqKc=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=Madras+Ch\
ristian+College&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=