Community perception and prioritization of invasive alien plants in Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape, Nepal

Climate change amplifies plant invasion hotspots in Nepal

“…A global study roughly estimated that the total cost of IAPs to Nepal's agriculture was approximately US$ 1.4 billion per year (Paini et al, ). Local communities, who primarily rely on farming and forests for their livelihood and employment, have already been negatively impacted by IAPs, such as through increased labour input in weeding, reduced crop production, livestock poisoning, reduced supply of forage and negative impacts on forests (Shrestha, Shrestha et al, ). Future climate will increase the distribution of the IAPs that were ranked by local communities as the worst, such as Ageratum houstonianum , Chromolaena odorata , Ageratina adenophora and Mikania micrantha (Shrestha, Shrestha et al, ).…”

“…Four of the modelled species ( Chromolaena odorata , Eichhornia crassipes , Lantana camara and Mikania micrantha ) are among the 100 of the world's worst invasive species (Lowe, Browne, Boudjelas, & DePoorter, ). Sixteen of the modelled species are considered highly problematic species by the local people of Nepal due to their negative impacts on agriculture, local livelihood and natural ecosystems (Shrestha, Shrestha et al, ). Modelled species were introduced either deliberately for ornamental purpose (e.g., L. camara , E. crassipes ) or accidentally (e.g., Ageratina adenophora , Parthenium hysterophorus ) to Nepal at various times.…”

Biology and management of the invasive weed Ageratina adenophora (Asteraceae): current state of knowledge and future research needs

“…Cultural control includes any non‐mechanical and non‐chemical practices that help to suppress the weed establishment, reproduction, dispersal and survival. In Nepal, people harvest A. adenophora and use it for cattle bedding and composting (Tiwari et al ., ; Baral et al ., ; Shrestha et al ., ). The biomass of this weed is also used for making bio‐briquettes (Baral et al ., ).…”

“…Health hazards of this weed to humans and other livestock have not been reported. Instead, rural communities in Nepal use leaf leachates of this plant to treat cuts and wounds (Shrestha et al ., ), implying an antiseptic effect.…”

“…Ageratina adenophora possesses several traits which are the characteristics of an ‘ideal’ weed ( sensu Baker, ), such as the production of numerous seeds (Parsons & Cuthbertson, ), adaptation to short‐ and long‐distance seed dispersal (Wang et al ., ), discontinuous germination and prolonged seed viability (Shen et al ., ), high stress tolerance (Li et al ., ; Rivera et al ., ), high phenotypic plasticity (Zhao et al ., ) and competitive ability through special means such as allelopathy (Inderjit et al ., ). It was ranked first among problematic invasive weeds in Nepal (Tiwari et al ., ) and one of the two invasive weeds prioritised by local communities for management in natural ecosystems (Shrestha et al ., ). Though different management strategies have been employed, their success has remained low and the weed has continued to invade new regions (e.g.…”