Scientists say that many of the plants pose not only ecological, but also economic danger to the Russian Federation. In addition, they add that due to certain species, people are greatly affected in terms of health.
Scientists have recently published the "Black Book of Siberian Flora". In it, they urge to draw the attention of the government of the regions of the Siberian Federal District, as well as other scientists and researchers to take urgent measures that will help contain the spread of alien plant species, Joinfo.ua reports with reference to RG.
The era of globalization has given rise to many new problems, including in biology. First of all, this applies to alien plants that spread around the globe following the migrating population, traffic, and cargo turnover. The so-called invasive plant species are especially dangerous - they naturalize in natural ecosystems new to them and transform natural communities. Scientists have described 58 of these species that pose a threat to the regions of the Siberian Federal District.
According to the information prepared for JoInfoMedia by journalist Georgy Poltavchuk, from an economic point of view, these plants are dangerous because they reduce the productivity of ecosystems, causing direct damage to agricultural and forestry enterprises. Some alien species carry parasitic and infectious plant diseases, such as wheat rust. A number of wind-pollinated plants cause allergenic diseases in humans.
At the request of the RG correspondent, Dean of the Faculty of Biology of Altai State University, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Marina Silantyeva named the most aggressive aliens.
One of them is familiar to absolutely everyone. This is ash-leaved maple, or American maple. In Siberia, it began to spread at the beginning of the last century. Firstly, as a decorative culture - in the 1950s, maple was almost universally used in urban landscaping. Secondly, since the 1920s, due to its unpretentiousness and low cost, it was used in protective forest plantations of the steppe part of the Altai Territory. In the process of naturalization, maple has become winter-hardy and drought-resistant, yields a huge amount of seeds that are transported over long distances. At the same time, it tolerates air and soil pollution well, and its resettlement is very fast - it has spread widely throughout the south of Western Siberia, it grows in forest belts, at construction sites, along roads, river floodplains, in forests and forests, orchards and vegetable gardens.
Where the maple settles, nothing else grows - an alien from North America survives ordinary plant species. Light and mineral regimes are changing, the food supply for animals is deteriorating. In some cases, the grass almost completely disappears. On river banks, maple displaces willow, which delays the washout of various natural and man-made materials, including pollutants and debris. But the worst thing happens in the forests where coniferous trees are cut down. Maples quickly take their place.
What to do with this aggressor? To destroy mercilessly in forests, in pastures, in hayfields, in floodplains.
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- But since ash-leaved maple communities legally belong to green spaces of the third category and their cutting or damage without appropriate documents entails administrative responsibility, it is necessary to amend the relevant legislative acts, - emphasizes Marina Silantyeva.
One of the most exotic invasive species is narrow-leaved oak. A mature tree can reach ten meters in height. The plant is actively spreading throughout the Altai Territory, reached Kuzbass, preferring sandy and pebble soils on the banks of rivers. An unpretentious and rapidly growing species survives where other plants die from smoke. Growing up, it forms thickets large in area, in which there is no place for any other species. In the fight against him, all means are good: mow, burn, cut, destroy the roots, apply herbicides.
Cyclahena colibacillus is an annual plant that can grow up to two meters. In Siberia, it most actively settles on the territory of the Altai Territory, seizes free places in significantly disturbed plant communities, builds up a large and useless biomass - cattle do not eat it, and for calves it is just a poisonous plant. It grows actively on the outskirts of villages, causing allergies during the flowering period. In sowing of cultivated plants, it reduces productivity by forty percent or more.
- Sometimes farmers are asked to help increase the productivity of pastures. When we begin to understand, we note that one of the main problems is invasive plants that have invaded the habitats of local forage grasses. And before carrying out a set of measures to increase productivity, farmers should definitely get rid of the newcomers, - emphasizes Marina Silantieva.
Another example is maned barley, which occupied many regions of Western and Eastern Siberia. It grows along river beds and lake shores, loves roadsides, wastelands, fields. Dramatically reduces the fodder value of pasture lands. If this newcomer, after having hatched out, gets into hay or green mass, the cattle will not eat food - it causes irritation of the digestive tract and even an ulcer in horses and cows.
If the aforementioned aliens have already established themselves and "settled down" in the Siberian expanses, then Sosnovsky's hogweed is just beginning its "blitzkrieg". This monster umbrella with a height of three to four meters will threaten not only animals and plants, but also humans. Suffice it to say that in Latvia, where the cow parsnip was brought in in the 1940s as a promising feed for livestock, it was awarded the status of the most aggressive weed. Huge sums of money are spent in Latvia to fight against Sosnovsky's hogweed, which grows with great speed in fields, meadows, wastelands, city gardens. One flower basket can produce up to 70,000 seeds. The weed has practically no pests and diseases. The plant secretes poisonous sap, which, when it comes into contact with the skin of a person or animal under the influence of sunlight, causes severe burns. Hogweed is a serious threat - including the possibility of death - to people with allergies. If its juice gets into the eyes, it causes blindness.
In many European countries, there are government and public programs to combat Sosnovsky's hogweed. In 2016, Russia recognized it as a harmful and dangerous weed.
- In Siberia, the problem of the spread of this poisonous plant will soon become acute in the Altai Republic and will pose a serious threat to the region's unique biodiversity and human security. The Sosnovsky hogweed also appeared in one of the foothill regions of the Altai Territory. Programs to eradicate it have not yet been developed. To destroy the discovered populations and prevent further spread, it is necessary to use the entire European experience. And as soon as possible - until the scale of the expansion of the cow parsnip became catastrophic, - emphasizes Marina Silantieva.