Kole wetlands, an internationally important Ramsar site of high value biodiversity, has been facing the threat of Cabomba furcuta-an alien invasive species.
Key points
- Cabomba furcuta, popularly called as Pink Bloom due its massive flowering, has been a new threat to the kole fields, in addition to water hyacinth and Salvinia molesta.
- A native of central and south America, Cabomba furcuta was brought to Kerala as an aquarium plant and has escaped to the wild.
- While water hyacinth and Salvinia molesta are the most impacting species in kole fields so far, regular presence of the pink bloom is a threat to the kole fields.
- Red Cabomba attracts people due to the massive flowering, which turns the entire water body pink.
- The submerged perennial aquatic plant grows in stagnant to slow-flowing freshwater.
- Cabomba requires a large quantity of oxygen for its growth and it will choke water bodies and drainage canals.
- It causes decline in diversity of native aquatic plants and causes economic losses by affecting yield of freshwater fishes.
- The Kole wetland in Kerala is popular for its paddy cultivation that dates back to 300 years.
- The wetland gets its name from its high productivity – ‘Kole’ literally translates to ‘bumper crop’ in Malayalam.
- The wetlands are fed by 10 rivers.
- The kole wetlands region is an area of 13,632 hectares with a vast expanse of fields below sea level spread across the districts of Thrissur and Malappuram.
