Long-Term Changes of Aquatic Invasive Plants and Implications for Future Distribution: A Case Study Using a Tank Cascade System in Sri Lanka

Kariyawasam, Champika S.; Kumar, Lalit; Kogo, Benjamin Kipkemboi; Ratnayake, Sujith S.

doi:10.3390/cli9020031

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

Long-Term Changes of Aquatic Invasive Plants and Implications for Future Distribution: A Case Study Using a Tank Cascade System in Sri Lanka

Champika S. Kariyawasam

^1,2,*

Lalit Kumar

Benjamin Kipkemboi Kogo

and

Sujith S. Ratnayake

^1,2

Ecosystem Management, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia

Ministry of Environment and Wildlife Resources, Battaramulla 10120, Sri Lanka

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Marcello Vitale

Climate 2021, 9(2), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9020031

Received: 9 January 2021 / Revised: 2 February 2021 / Accepted: 5 February 2021 / Published: 9 February 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change Impact on Plant Ecology)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Citation Export

Abstract

Climate variability can influence the dynamics of aquatic invasive alien plants (AIAPs) that exert tremendous pressure on aquatic systems, leading to loss of biodiversity, agricultural wealth, and ecosystem services. However, the magnitude of these impacts remains poorly known. The current study aims to analyse the long-term changes in the spatio-temporal distribution of AIAPs under the influence of climate variability in a heavily infested tank cascade system (TCS) in Sri Lanka. The changes in coverage of various features in the TCS were analysed using the supervised maximum likelihood classification of ten Landsat images over a 27-year period, from 1992 to 2019 using ENVI remote sensing software. The non-parametric Mann–Kendall trend test and Sen’s slope estimate were used to analyse the trend of annual rainfall and temperature. We observed a positive trend of temperature that was statistically significant (p value < 0.05) and a positive trend of rainfall that was not statistically significant (p values > 0.05) over the time period. Our results showed fluctuations in the distribution of AIAPs in the short term; however, the coverage of AIAPs showed an increasing trend in the study area over the longer term. Thus, this study suggests that the AIAPs are likely to increase under climate variability in the study area. View Full-Text

Keywords: climate change; climate variability; land use change; Mann–Kendall statistical test; Sen’s slope estimator; supervised maximum likelihood classification

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Kariyawasam, C.S.; Kumar, L.; Kogo, B.K.; Ratnayake, S.S. Long-Term Changes of Aquatic Invasive Plants and Implications for Future Distribution: A Case Study Using a Tank Cascade System in Sri Lanka. Climate 2021, 9, 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9020031

AMA Style

Kariyawasam CS, Kumar L, Kogo BK, Ratnayake SS. Long-Term Changes of Aquatic Invasive Plants and Implications for Future Distribution: A Case Study Using a Tank Cascade System in Sri Lanka. Climate. 2021; 9(2):31. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9020031

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kariyawasam, Champika S., Lalit Kumar, Benjamin Kipkemboi Kogo, and Sujith S. Ratnayake. 2021. "Long-Term Changes of Aquatic Invasive Plants and Implications for Future Distribution: A Case Study Using a Tank Cascade System in Sri Lanka" Climate 9, no. 2: 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9020031

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Long-Term Changes of Aquatic Invasive Plants and Implications for Future Distribution: A Case Study Using a Tank Cascade System in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI