Abstract
The impact of invasive plant species in national parks and forests in Vietnam is undocumented and management plans have yet to be developed. Ten national parks, ranging from uncut to degraded forests located throughout Vietnam, were surveyed for invasive plant species. Transects were set up along roads, trails where local people access park areas, and also tracks through natural forest. Of 134 exotic weeds, 25 were classified as invasive species and the number of invasive species ranged from 8 to 15 per park. An assessment of the risk of invasive species was made for three national parks based on an invasive species assessment protocol. Examples of highly invasive species were Chromolaena odorata and Mimosa diplotricha in Cat Ba National Park (island evergreen secondary forest over limestone); Mimosa pigra, Panicum repens and Eichhornia crassipes in Tram Chim National Park (lowland wetland forest dominated by melaleuca); and C. odorata, Mikania micrantha and M. diplotricha in Son Tra Nature Conservation area (peninsula evergreen secondary forest). Strategies to monitor and manage invasive weeds in forests and national parks in Vietnam are outlined.
Highlights
Vietnam is a tropical country with a rich biodiversity, including 2393 non-vascular plants and11,373 vascular plants [1]
Of the 448 plant species listed in the Vietnam red data book, 44 species are critically endangered, 186 species are endangered and a further 213 species are vulnerable [2]
This paper reports for the first time on the alien plant species that are invasive in national parks in Vietnam and adds to previous studies in the wider region [24]
Summary
Vietnam is a tropical country with a rich biodiversity, including 2393 non-vascular plants and11,373 vascular plants [1]. Vietnam is a tropical country with a rich biodiversity, including 2393 non-vascular plants and. The total forest area in Vietnam is nearly 13.3 million ha (39.5% cover) [3], of which natural forest constitutes. 30 national parks (NP), 58 natural conservation areas (NCA), 11 species conservation areas (SCA), 45 historical forest areas (HFA) and 20 scientific forest areas (SFA). These are distributed as follows: the north-east region has 5 NPs, 19 NCAs, 14 HFAs and 4 SCAs; the north-west region has 10 NCAs, According to Canh and Hai [1] the forests are under increasing pressure from disturbance. In a country report on forest invasive species, Thu [6] recorded
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