Assessment of the Effective Methods to Eradicate Opuntia cylindrica and Opuntia stricta in the Serengeti Ecosystem

Invasive alien plant species are increasingly invading natural habitats posing a major threat to sustainable biodiversity conservation (Pauchard et al., 2009). Opuntia species have invade the Serengeti National Park since the 1950s (Bukombe et al., 2017). However, their distribution, extent and effects on natural habitat have less been investigated. The park was surveyed to map and assessed the level of Opuntia spp infection in terms of cover and diversity within the park. Point Centered Quadrant sampling method was used where by 50 x 50 m & nested quadrant of 2 x 2 m for soil sampling. Five Quadrates were established in each hectare plot in infected and uninfected sites. In each quadrant, Opuntia species were identified and their canopy cover visually estimated. The total cover of all two species was approximately 6.9 km2 in the five different sites. It was further found that each of the two invasive species suppressed the growth of native plant species within the nearby sites as the diversity of native herbaceous species was far lower in plots that were located closer to Opuntia patches. For this case the p-value was (4.34E-09≤0.05) indicating strong evidence against the null hypothesis. The p-value is less than the significance level thus the null hypothesis was rejected and concluded that there is a significant difference in the effectiveness of methods used to eradicate Opuntia species in Serengeti National Park. The management of the park should put more commitment on the management to controlling the two species and other exotics in order to avoid any further negative impact on the ecosystem