PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, March 11 Scientists from Kamchatka University named after Vitus Bering have begun researching invasive plant species, including Sosnovsky's hogweed, to develop measures to combat them, reported University press service.
«»The project is being implemented within the framework of the Priority 2030 program of the national project «Science and Universities». The research is aimed at identifying the diversity of alien plant species, establishing the routes and mechanisms of their penetration into the region. The data will help generate the necessary knowledge for the development of containment measures, especially for such plant species as Sosnovsky’s hogweed,” the press service quotes the head of the research, Mikhail Kozhin.
In addition, a detailed assessment of the impact of such plants on natural ecosystems and the human environment will be carried out, since some introduced plants, for example Sosnovsky's hogweed, not only take over unoccupied territories, but also destroy plants that originally live in Kamchatka. At the same time, scientists believe that tourists also help spread invasive species across the peninsula. Hogweed seeds are easily carried on car tires. It is thanks to this that the plant can now be found even in the most remote areas of the region.
“Cow parsnip is a plant that everyone knows about, but with which they don’t really do anything. In the first reading of the State Duma, a bill was passed according to which land owners must destroy it. In order to fight Sosnovsky’s hogweed, you need to know how it differs from other species. Often people do not understand where is the Sosnovsky hogweed and where is the local, Kamchatka — woolly hogweed. We also need to work with this so that it is the alien species that are destroyed, and not the one that is inherent in the natural ecosystems of Kamchatka,» added Kozhin.
March 10, 08:00
The first data from a study of the distribution of Sosnovsky's hogweed and other species of imported plants, including impatiens glandular, arachnoid burdock, scientists plan to receive it by the end of 2024.
Sosnovsky's hogweed was first brought to Kamchatka for testing as a silage crop on the experimental fields of the Kamchatka Agricultural Experiment Station in the village of Sosnovka about 30 years ago. In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, it was first recorded in 2010 on one small slope of a hill in the Seroglazka microdistrict. Today this plant can be seen in almost any yard. Sosnowski's hogweed contains furanocoumarins. When skin comes into contact with plant sap and under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, these compounds cause burns.