Abstract:
Invasive alien species (IAS) have distressing impacts on native biota, causing
decline or even extinction of native species, and negatively affecting
ecosystems. All major invasions are due to the actions of humans such as
deliberate introductions or escapes, and hitchhiking with global trade of
species to other continents. Annona glabra plants also highly impact to the
wetland ecosystems in the western part of Sri Lanka. The main objective of
this research is to identify the environmental impact of annona
glabra plant. The Mudhun Ela catchment in Mahara Divisional Secretariate
Division was selected as the study area. The primary and secondary data were
used for this research. The mixed-method has been used by this research.
Primary data was collected through semi-structured questionnaires,
observation, and ground surveys with square method while reports, books,
articles, and institutional reports have been used as secondary data. Ground
survey data were analyzed using Shannon's wiener diversity index calculation
and it showed species richness and density were highest in the study
area. Also, it could be identified that the people not aware of the threat of the
IAS plant to the ecosystem. According to the analysis, it is better to conduct
awareness among the villagers and government on dos don’t with IAS would
assist in opening up more opportunities for community participation in
effective IAS management.
