Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LVIII
Written by Marilena ONETE, Roxana ION, Larisa FLORESCU, Minodora MANU, Florian Paul BODESCU, Aurora NEAGOE
In the Transylvanian region, the Arieş Valley stretches along the course of the Arieş River, ending as tributary of Mureş River. As well as these areas of great biodiversity value, the Arieş Valley (drainage area of 2,540 km2) also crosses theregion where local people set their villages and towns and use the surrounding areas as grasslands for grazing, mowingand fields for agriculture. The grassland types are present in patches, those used for hay production are scattered amongagricultural fields and human settlements.Evidence from statistical analysis of the vegetation cover of a riparian area of Arieş River Valley indicates that in theinventorying plots with low species diversity, there is a dominance of one or two species with individuals unequallydistributed within and between plots. The layer 1-5 m is dominated by alien invasive species: Fallopia japonica,Helianthus tuberosus, Impatiens glanduligera, the studied area of Arieş River Valley becoming a source for these alienspecies to invade the surrounding grasslands and agricultural fields. Especially Fallopia japonica individuals formcompact patches invading the pastures and agricultural fields and the local farmers cannot use the land any more forfulfilling their own needs. The invasive species replace the native species from the grasslands and make the agriculturalfield inappropriate for crops cultivation. The river acts as a migration corridor for the alien species helping them tospread by seeds or fragments and invade new places, especially during spring and/or autumn floods, and acontamination source for the surrounding grasslands and agricultural fields.
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