International Journal on Science and Technology

E-ISSN: 2229-7677     Impact Factor: 9.88

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Call for Paper Volume 16 Issue 4 October-December 2025 Submit your research before last 3 days of December to publish your research paper in the issue of October-December.

Spatial assessment of plant invasion across the urban protected area of Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam

Author(s) Mr. Avishek Sarkar, Dr. Dhruba Jyoti Das, Dr. Prosanta Hazarika
Country India
Abstract Spread across 78.84 km2 towards the eastern fringe of Guwahati Smart City (26006'N-26013'N & 91050'E-91058'E) in Assam, Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary (AWLS) was notified in 2008 for conservation of Asian Elephant populations. The protected area faces anthropogenic pressure in the form of encroachment, NTFP collection, grazing and invasive alien plant (IAP) spread. Invasion pressure was assessed by undertaking field survey across 200m x 200m quadrats to map occurrence and spread of Ageratum conizoides, Chromolaena odorata, Lantana camara and Mikania micrantha. Spatial analyses with IAP severity as dependent variable and land use/cover, distance from road and distance from PA edge as independent variables yielded a strong and statistically significant positive correlation suggesting strong clustering and heavy localized invasion. Nearly 47% area was found to be invaded by IAPs, with 27% area being severely invaded, 9% highly invaded and 11% moderately invaded. Mikania micrantha was observed to be the most frequently occurring species. The occurrence of all the selected species was found to be positively correlated with canopy openness, being absent in pure patches of Very dense forest, pure Bamboo patches and Sal and Teak dominated areas along the periphery. The study thus identifies severely and highly invaded areas in urgent need of managing IAP populations to increase native fodder plant population, which may decrease instances of Elephant stray-outs. Further research on species specific biocontrol agents can be carried out along the periphery to initiate management of IAP spread along the sanctuary.
Keywords Canopy density, Forest, Guwahati, Invasive species, LULC, Protected area, Ecology
Field Biology
Published In Volume 16, Issue 4, October-December 2025
Published On 2025-10-12

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