Marystella Nang'oni Wekhanya

Invasive Plant Species Marystella Nang'oni Wekhanya

Invasive species are a major ecological and management concern in natural ecosystems and pose a threat to many habitats. Invasive plant species compete with native species phasing them out of their niches and times leads to loss of ecosystem services such as water filtration, soil stabilization, and pest control. They may also result in reduction of wildlife forage, death of wild animals due to lack of food or at times death of wild animals when they feed on poisonous invasive plant species. Invasion of native plant habitats change the macro-nutrients and the micro-nutrients by invasive plant and this changes soil chemicals. The aim of this study was to establish whether the invasive plant Lantana camara changes the soil chemical properties. The key objective was to evaluate the soil nutrient composition in areas invaded by Lantana camara L. and how these differ from areas without Lantana camara.