A B S T R A C T
The threat of invasive alien plant species (IAPS) to biodiversity, ecological health and sustainable use of biological resources globally is becoming increasingly obvious. In India’s Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, invasive plants have been spreading rapidly, presenting a serious environmental hazard since they might damage local plant species, especially those utilized in traditional medicine. This study combines all the studies carried out on the spread, environmental, and sociological and economic repercussions of alien plant species in the area with an emphasis on their influence on the diversity of ethnomedicinal plants. Published research, regional floristic surveys and ethnobotanical studies were closely examined to uncover patterns of invasion and their implications for traditional medicinal plant resources. The assessment says several invasive species have spread to wide regions in wastelands, woods, marshes and disturbed ecosystems. The majority of these plants belong to the groups Asteraceae, Amaranthaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Convolvulaceae. These species compete with native medicinal plants for space, nutrients, water, and light, reducing the quantity of plants in the region, altering the community structure, and damaging the ecosystem. Loss of ethnomedicinal plants makes it more difficult for local people to get the plant-based remedies they have traditionally utilized and may also make indigenous knowledge systems less secure. Invasive species can also damage people’s livelihoods by reducing access to essential medicinal ingredients and increasing control costs. biological invaders both from the environmental and economic point of view. To safeguard the According to the statistics, Rohilkhand suffers from biological and cultural history of the area involves increasing biodiversity monitoring, maintaining populations of plants needed for traditional medicine, recovering invaded habitats and applying traditional ecological knowledge to management plans. Invasions have strong effects on ecosystems and scientists must discover out how to evaluate those effects, track them over time, and design effective strategies for protecting and restoring them.
Keywords: Invasive alien plant species, Ethnomedicinal plants, Biodiversity conservation,Biological invasion, Traditional knowledge, Rohilkhand region, Uttar Pradesh.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23076149