Hasanović et al. 2020, Biologica Nyssana 11(1) 11 (1) September 2020: 65-69 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4060309 Contribution to the knowledge of invasive flora in Kozara National Park Short Communication Mujo Hasanović Institute for Genetic engineering and biotechnology, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina mujohh@gmail.com (corresponding author) Emir Delić Association of Biology Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina emir.delicc@otulook.com Mensud Šarić Association of Biology Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina saric994@hotmail.com Received: December 26, 2019 Revised: April 30, 2020 Accepted: May 27, 2020 Abstract: Kozara National Park is exposed to different anthropogenic influences even though it is categorized as IUCN Category II. In this study, we investigated, identified and mapped invasive flora and their impact on the native plant communities. During summer 2018, the fieldwork was conducted at 6 locations using the Braun-Blanquet method for the investigation of plant communities. The total of 13 invasive alien species (IAS) have been detected. Most of the IAS belong to the Asteraceae family, originating from North America (76.92%). The most abundant life forms were therophytes and geophytes found in Artemisietalia communities. Conclusively, the IAS are widespread in the examined area, particularly in the parts of the park designated for tourist recreational activities. Key words: alien flora, Bosnia and Herzegovina, vegetation Apstract: Prilog poznavanju invazivne flore Nacionalnog parka Kozara Nacionalni park Kozara izložen je različitim antropogenim uticajima, iako prema IUCN spada u kategoriju II. U istraživanju smo identifikovali i mapirali invazivnu floru i njihov uticaj na autohtone biljne zajednice. Tokom leta 2018. terenski rad je sproveden na 6 lokacija primenom Braun- Blankuet-ove metode za ispitivanje biljnih zajednica. Otkriveno je ukupno 13 invazivnih stranih vrsta (IAS). Većina IAS pripada porodici Asteraceae, poreklom iz Severne Amerike (76,92%). Najzastupljenije životne forme su terofite i geofite, pronađene u zajednicama reda Artemisietalia. Zaključno, IAS su široko rasprostranjeni u ispitivanom području, posebno u delovima parka predviđenim za turističke rekreativne aktivnosti. Ključne reči: strana flora, Bosna i Hercegovina, vegetacija The invasive alien species (IAS) in Bosnia and Herzegovina were observed in research in the pre- vious century (Slavnić, 1960; Slavnić 1964; Bjelčić & Stefanović, 1986; Abadžić, 1986/87). However, only since the verification of CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) in 2002, monitoring IAS has become mandatory. According to the national CBD report (Strategija i akcioni plan za zaštitu biološke raznolikosti Bosne i Hercegovine 2015-2020. Podrška Bosni i Hercegovini za revidiranje Strategi- je i akcionog plana za zaštitu biološke raznolikosti i izradu Petog nacionalnog izvještaja prema Konven- ciji o biološkoj raznolikosti, 2016), the plan was to observe all IAS and identify pathways of spreading by 2020. So far, no official list of invasive flora and fauna exists. In that light, every investigation which goes into the direction of study the IAS is of great importance. Every year, high biodiversity and eco- logical value of Kozara National Park attract many visitors, who can potentially endanger certain eco- © 2020 Hasanović et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially under the same license as the original. 65 systems. It is worth noting that Bucalo et al. (2007) detected 657 vascular plants in a relatively small area of the Park (3910 ha). With this in mind, the main purpose of the study was to contribute to better understanding of distribution of invasive flora in the Kozara National Park. The investigated area included the central and south part of Kozara massif. The fieldwork was performed on 6 locations through original phyto- coenological research during the summer 2018. The analysis of the floristic composition was executed with the standard method Zurich-Montpellier school Braun-Blanquet (1964). Description of each site was made using Garmin GPS and topographic, geologi- cal and pedological maps (Tab. 1.) Preliminary list of invasive plant flora for B&H (Maslo, 2016) was used as a primary database. For the plant identifica- tion, we used following identification keys: Domac (1979), Javorka and Csapody (1991), Šarić (1991), Šilić (2005), Nikolić et al. (2014). The nomenclature 66 Table 1. General locality information No. Locality Coordinates Altitude (m) Slope (º) Exposition Bedrock Soil type 1 Zečiji kamen - Viewpoint N 45° 1'3.13" E 16°52'16.15" 655 45 SW Limestone Calcome- lanosol 2 Ski plateau - Mrakovica N 45° 0'50.75" E 16°54'13.38" 785 5 W Eocene flysch Deposol 3 Gumline - Viewpoint N 44°59'43.29" E 16°54'43.37" 520 10 SW Limestone Calcome- lanosol 4 Road for Kotlovača N 45° 00'23.9" E 16°52'42.5" 655 0 W Gabbro Deposol 5 Sledding site - Mrakovica N 45° 0'56.59" E 16°54'18.73" 790 5 SE Eocene flysch Deposol 6 Mountain hut - Mrakovica N 45° 00'50.8" E 16°54'20.6" 650 50 SE Eocene flysch Deposol Table 2. Recorded invasive flora in Kozara National Park Taxon Family Detected in community Origin Life Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. Asteraceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950; Querco-Ostryetum carpinifolie Ht. 1938 North America T Erigeron canadensis (L.) Cronquist Asteraceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 North America H Erigeron annus (L.) Pers. Asteraceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950; Querco-Ostryetum carpinifolie Ht. 1938 North America H Galinsoga parviflora Cav. Asteraceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 North and South America T Juncus tenuis Willd. Juncaceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 North America H Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch. Vitaceae Fagetalia sylvaticae Pawlowski in Pawlowski et al. 1928 North America Ph Phytolacca americana L. Phytolaccaceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 North America G Reynoutria japonica Houtt. Polygonaceae Adenostyletalia Br.-Bl. 1931 East Asia G Robinia pseudoacacia L. Fabaceae Fagetalia sylvaticae Pawlowski in Pawlowski et al. 1928 North America Ph Solidago gigantea Aiton Asteraceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 Northen America G Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. Poaceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 Middle East G Veronica persica Poir. Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 South-Western Asia T Xanthium strumarium L. subsp. italicum (Moretti) D. Love Asteraceae Artemisietalia Lohm. Prsg. et Tx. in Tx. 1950 North America T BIOLOGICA NYSSANA ● 11 (1) September 2020: 65-69 Hasanović et al. ● Contribution to the knowledge of invasive flora in Kozara National Park 67 follows the Euro+Med PlantBase (2006) and The International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI) database (2017). Syntaxonomic position of the analyzed communities was determined based on the list of plant communities in Bosnia and Herze- govina (Prodromus) (Lakušić 1978, Barudanović et al., 2015) and International Code of Phytoso- ciological Nomenclature (Weber et al., 2000). The taxa are listed alphabetically and accompanied by life form data (Ph-phanerophyte, Ch-chamaephyte, H-hemicryptophyte, G-geophyte, Hy-hydrophyte, T-therophyte) (Raunkiaer, 1934). Out of the 119 identified plant species in the Ko- zara National Park, 13 (10.9%) were IAS (Tab. 2). Maslo (2016) listed 50 IAS in the preliminary list of IAS in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is important to state that the overall number of IAS in the Park may not be definitive due to the scope of research. All identified plants are neophytes, originated from North America (76.92%) and Asia (23.08%). The majority of IAS belong to Asteraceae (46%) which is, regarding invasiveness, one of the most abound- ing in the world (Pyšek, 1998). The most abundant life forms in the exam- ined flora of the investigated area are therophytes (30.76%) and geophytes (30.76%) followed by hemicryptophytes (23.1%) and phanerophytes (15.38%). Even though the studied area is charac- terized by mesophilic and hydrophilic habitats with the larger portion of phanerophytes and hemicryp- tophytes (Lakušić et al., 1991; Bucalo et al., 2007), continuous anthropogenic im- pacts in the form of degradation resulted in expansion of nitrified, xerophytic and stomped habitats. Hard and compact soil, high insolation and temperature, along with weak soil transparency ena- bled the development and domination of therophytes and geophytes (Jovanović, 1993). The relatively high percentage of hemicryptophytes (23.1%) is not sur- prising because these plant species have extraordinary regenerative potential and can endure stomping and breaking (Topalić-Trivunović, 2006). Continu- ous construction projects and expan- sion of tourist offer allow undisturbed spreading of invasive flora, both alien and native. With five marked recrea- tional trails and the accompanying infra- structure, invasive flora is spreading on the ski and trim tracks near Mrakovica where we detected nine IAS: Ambro- sia artemisiifolia, Erigeron canadensis, Erigeron annuus, Galinsoga parviflora, Juncus tenuis, Reynoutria japonica, Ro- binia pseudoacacia, Veronica persica and Xanthium strumarium subsp. italicum. Along the roads from Mrakovica to Gola Planina, three IAS were found, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Reynoutria japonica and Erigeron annuus. By the trails from Mrakovica to Kozarački kamen, Benkovac and Zečiji kamen we identified Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Erigeron ca- nadensis, Erigeron annuus, Robinia pseudoacacia, Solidago gigantea, Galinsoga parviflora and Veroni- ca persica. Phytolacca americana was detected in the north- western and Sorghum halepense in the southern part of the park. The gathered data suggest that all IAS continuously spread alongside the roads and trails. Many studies confirm that IAS spread near roads (Hansen & Clevenger, 2005; Meunier & Lavoie, 2012; Brisson et al., 2017). Of the detected invasive flora, the most impor- tant is the spreading of Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Reynoutria japonica given their negative impact on human health (Leru et al., 2015) and biodiversity (Aguilera et al., 2010). The high abundance of A. artemisiifolia on the Mrakovica plateau is of special concern. Even though it was detected in only two lo- calities near Mrakovica, Reynoutria japonica popu- lations could possibly continue the spreading around the nearest pathways. Growing in high-density pop- ulations (Naiman et al., 2005), Japanese knotweed disables the development of any other plant species through strong allelopathic effect (Murrell et al., Fig. 1. Map of detected invasive flora in the Kozara National Park BIOLOGICA NYSSANA ● 11 (1) September 2020: 65-69 Hasanović et al. ● Contribution to the knowledge of invasive flora in Kozara National Park 68 2011). The spreading of this species would be harm- ful particularly in the zone of Pašini konaci due to unique swamp habitats with communities Glyceri- etum plicatae Kulczynski 1928 and Lemnetum mi- noris (Oberd.1957) Th. Mull. Gors.1960. Acknowledgements. 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