Over 300 Invasive Plant Species Reported in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 3 (acn) At least 322 invasive plant species have been reported in Cuba, and 58 percent of them are considered transformer of the composition and structure of native ecosystems, it was reported in this capital.

The fact is alarming, especially in areas devoted to the protection of Cuban biodiversity, according to experts of the Cuban Society of Botany (SOCUBOT by its Spanish acronym), in an article published in the latest edition of its newsletter Bissea.

The proliferation of such plants is particularly important, given the condition of the Cuban archipelago and the high degree of fragmentation of ecosystems, according to the same source.

One of its reproductive elements may be allelopathy, a biological phenomenon in which an organism produces one or more biochemical compounds that influence the growth, survival or reproduction of other, the paper argues.

However, the experts noted that to date its handling has not been taken into account in conquering plants recorded in Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, in the province of Artemisa.

This work is the result of a study conducted in the aforementioned area by experts of SOCUBOT and published in their publication named in honor of naturalist Johannes Bissea ( 1935-1984).

The latter was a German botanist who lived in Cuba as a guest professor at the University of Havana and worked for 18 years in the development of the National Botanical Garden and the formation of its scientific cadres.

The Sierra del Rosario was established in 1985 as the first Biosphere Reserve in the nation, followed by the Guanahacabibes Peninsula (Pinar del Río); Cuchillas del Toa (Guantanamo-Holguin) and Baconao (Santiago de Cuba); Buenavista (Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Ávila) and Cienaga de Zapata (Matanzas).