INVASIVE PLANTS

INVASIVE PLANTS, the aggressive foreign species, which actively spawn, are able to spread on vast territories, invade into local plant communities and force native plants out of them. About 100 species of I.p. have been discovered in the RB, 10 of them are classified as the 1st category of danger to ecosystems and humans (species of genus ambrosia, maple lashenelium, roodeia ca­ nadian, etc). Trifid and perennial ambrosia, Cyclachaena xanthiifolia have allergenic pollen and cause serious human diseases (asthma, dermatitis, pollen allergy, etc), Heracleum Sosnovsky causes severe burns, forms impassable overgrowth and suppresses other plant species. Mushy Barley occupies steppe pastures and salt marshes, forms extensive abandoned lands, unsuitable for grazing. Coastal and aquatic communities get reorganized due to invasions of devil’s beggar, choke pondweed, Xanthium albinum, wild cucumber. Ash-leaved maple invades floodplain willow-poplar forests, replaces local type of woody plants, excessive maple vegetation contaminates waste lands and road slopes. Ambrosia, mountain bluet, field weed sunflower, Cuscuta campestris are quarantine objects throughout the whole RF territory.