INVASIVE ALIEN PLANT SPECIES MONITORING ON MEADOW HABITATS SHELTERING MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC SPECIES IN PIATRA CRAIULUI NATIONAL PARK

Abstract

Traditionally, the meadows surrounding Piatra Craiului were managed as hayfields. Starting with 2003 many hayfields were abandoned, favoring the invasion of alien plant species. In the hayfields on Bârsa Valley, there were identified over 500 plant species, 26 of them used as medicinal and aromatic plants. There were recorded, as well, 11 invasive alien plant species. The study conducted from 2005 to 2010 in 10 permanent monitoring plots, highlighted the species with the highest invasive potential: Erigeron anuus, Solidago canadensis, Impatiens glandulifera and Reynoutria japonica. In order to conserve the plants diversity, the resources of wild medicinal and aromatic plants, and to prevent the expansion of alien invasive species, the land must be mowed annually after the end of July.