Himalayan Balsam and why its an issue

                               
                                     Impatiens glandulifera
There are many issues with the invasive species Impatiens glandulifera (Himalayan Balsam). The main issue is smothering. Due to the fact this species can grow over head height and spreads at a very fast rate, this leads to resource competition and thus resource scarcity as native species cannot grow at the rate and therefore do not get their required sunlight, this then means they are smothered and die. Balsam also alters the soil composition in the areas it roots, from the photo above its clear to see that it also has a significantly smaller root system, this means that its doesn't bind the soil and hold it together, this can cause river banks to collapse on themselves due to lack of stability.

When in season seed pods of this plant open explosively, this means that seeds can be shot up to 7m away from the mother plant. This isn't helped by the fact each plant is able to produce up to 800 seeds, these seeds also travel along waterways and can remain viable for up to two years from when they were first released. This therefore leads to a mass invasion of this species across waterways all over the UK.

In terms of treating this outbreak, it is best that chemical intervention is a last resort given that these plants root down besides fresh water sources, so including chemicals can have potentially severe impacts on the local ecosystem and animals living within that habitat. Many areas have started 'Balsam bashing' whereby locals volunteer to pull these plants out of the river banks, this can be effective if done frequently enough. 








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PWP Landscape Architecture - TANNER FOUNTAIN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Image
  This water feature really captured my interest as I have never seen a water feature that appears so fog-like. It really creates a surreal atmosphere.  “For three seasons of the year the nozzles emit a dematerializing mist while in winter steam from the university heating plant creates a fog around the fountain. ”   (PWP, n.d.) This therefore makes the space able to be used throughout the seasons. In the summer months the mist will have a cooling effect on anyone that sits close by and in the winter the steam from the heating plant will warm the surrounding area very slightly. Whenever I think to add a water feature to one of my designs, I always choose a generic fountain or rill etc. This design uses the surrounding landscape to create a very functional while also eery and mysterious feature. This is something I need to consider, that not every water feature needs to look the same and that the entire feel of a place can be altered by granite rocks and a mist attach...
Read more

Landscape photography

Image
The above photos are from a trip to Monte Negro This was in Wales Stourhead A crop field behind my house The Azores Photography isn't something I'm particularly passionate about, however I do take lots of landscape based photos when I feel they would be something I would love to draw at a later date. I know it's best to draw from life but when I don't have time I like to snap a picture to refer to at a later date. The above are a collection of my favourites!  
Read more