CADASTRE OF RAGWEED`S SITES IN THE SARAJEVO

Herbologia, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2015
DOI: 10.5644/Herb.15.2.02
CADASTRE OF RAGWEED’S SITES
IN THE SARAJEVO CANTON
Mirzeta Memišević Hodžić, Adnana Mejrić, Ahmet Sejdić,
Samir Omerović
JP “Bosanskohercegovačke šume”, Maršala Tita 7, 71000 Sarajevo
mirzeta.memisevic.hodzic@bhsume.com.ba, adnana.vukovic@hotmail.com, ahmet.
sejdic@bhsume.com.ba, samir.omerovic@bhsume.com.ba
Abstract
During 2015 experts of PE “Bosanskohercegovačke šume” created
the digital cadastre of ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) sites in the
Canton Sarajevo for the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and
Environmental Protection of the Canton Sarajevo. The term “digital cadastre” means geospatial databases with associated cartography (thematic
maps of areas affected by this plant species).
Maps show the location of ragweed and accompanying table contains coordinates of areas, municipalities, cadastral municipality, number
of parcel, ownership, type of bedrock, soil type, soil damage, presence
of asphalt, altitude, exposition, inclination, micro-relief shape, presence
of erosion, vegetation form, land, presence of grass, presence of weeds,
human activities on site, needs for repairing, needs for cleaning, planting
(ground flora, trees and/or bushes), and list of other plant species (ruderal
or other) on each individual location.
A total of 105 locations with presence of ragweed were found, the
most in the municipalities of Hadžići and Ilijaš, along the railway line and
main roads.
Because of its presence in the vicinity of settlements and roads, most
convenient and most recommended measure to combat ragweed in the
Canton Sarajevo is mowing. Mowing must be performed before insemination. Recommended period for mowing is May, June, and possibly the
beginning of July. Already in mid-July, ragweed is at some localities in
full bloom. Mowing in this case is not recommended, because it would
increase the spread of pollen. Pulling out can be performed in April and
May, while plants are still small (up to 20 cm high).
Keywords: ragweed, digital cadastre, Canton Sarajevo
Copyright © 2015 by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Memišević Hodžić et al.
Introduction
Ragweed belongs to the family Asteraceae (Compositae). It originates from the USA. Vojniković (2009) classifies ragweed as species for
the blacklist of flora of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the list of invasive species that can cause damage in the area of biodiversity, health and economy;
expansion of these species should be prevented), and it is also on the list
of invasive species of flora of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of
the Federation B&H.
It grows on bare-land sites, such as railways, roads, banks of streams
and rivers, neglected gardens and badly cultivated fields. It can be found
in many vegetable crops, potatoes, corn, sunflower, sugar beet, soybeans,
and many other crops.
Today, ragweed is known as one of the most dangerous allergenic
plants whose pollen causes sneezing, watery secretion, congestion and
itching of nose, itching and watery eyes, and often itching in the throat
and ears. Thirty years ago ragweed was not identify as dangerous allergen
in our region. Tucakov (1984) states that in some parts of the world (the
USA), up to 90% of pollen allergic rhinitis was caused by plants of Compositae family, particularly Ambrosia genus (A. trifida L., A. artemisiifolia
L. etc), less by genus Artemisia (A. tridentata Nutt.), while in our country
the most common cause of pollen sneezing were grasses during flowering
(Gramineae). Šarić (1991) states that ragweed pollen causes allergies in
people and livestock.
Allergic reactions to ragweed may appear already at the concentration of 20-30 pollen grains per m3 of air (www.vasezdravlje.com). According to the Report on Seasonal and Spatial Variations of Pollen Allergens in
Sarajevo Area in 2014, the concentration of ragweed pollen goes beyond
limits in August, September and October (Table 1).
Table 1: Ragweed’s pollen concentration on measuring stations
in Sarajevo
Measuring station
Pofalići
Stari Grad
7
16
6
Pollen grains/m3 of air/month
8
9
193
66
80
57
10
30
19
The report also states that established values were significantly lower than values recorded in previous years, especially in 2011, when weekly
value reached 320 grains/m3.
18
Digital cadastre of ragweed’s sites in the Sarajevo Canton
Šoljan and Muratović (2002, 2014) researched distribution of ragweed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and determined its presence in the northern, western, north-eastern and central Bosnia, as well as its expansion in
Herzegovina in the Neretva River valley.
In the research carried out by Šoljan and Muratović (2000) in the
city of Sarajevo, six locations with the presence of ragweed were found in
ruderal habitats and undeveloped park areas.
During the research of flora of Hutovo Blato, Maslo (2014a) determined presence of ragweed along riverbanks of the Krupa River, channels,
and wet gravel pits.
During the research of urban flora of Mostar, Maslo (2014b) found
ragweed in four of five investigated areas (Old Town with surrounding city
quarter (mahalle); New part of the city; Railway station with surrounding;
Areas near the Neretva River). Ragweed was not present only in suburban
areas.
According to Šarić et al. (2011), Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. spread
from the Posavina Region (in the north) to the south, in the last few decades. This species spread quickly because of enormous abundance of its
seeds. Another reason for rapid expansion of ragweed was the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-95). During the war, weeds were not controlled
and they disseminated and expanded freely (Šarić et al., 1999 in Šarić et
al. 2011).
Methods
Creating digital cadastre of ragweed included preparatory work,
field research, data entry and processing and mapping of recorded points
and surfaces.
As a part of preparatory work, surfaces on which the appearance
of ragweed was expected were selected. The points for recording have
been defined. Based on the available data, these surfaces represent potential habitat for ragweed (damaged, abandoned land, proximity to garbage
dumps, bands along the roads, etc.). The surfaces were determined by consultation of all sources of geo-information data, especially ortho images.
295 points/surfaces were defined, which were then digitized and working
maps for field recording were made. Information about ragweed sites were
collected from relevant municipal departments and the Cantonal Public
Enterprise “Rad” and these sites were associated with the previously defined points.
19
Memišević Hodžić et al.
Four graphs were made for recording data in accordance with the
project requirements. Graph 1 includes general location information (name
of locality, municipality, cadastral district, coordinates, parcel number,
ownership, type of substrate, type of soil, soil damage, rockiness, altitude,
exposure, inclination, micro-relief shape, type and intensity of erosion,
vegetation shape, presence of grass, presence of weeds, visible activity
on the surface, needs for repairing, cleaning, planting and renewal). Forms
2, 3 and 4 are modified forms for recordings conducted by the method of
Braun-Blanquet for species of ground flora, trees and shrubs. Form for
ground flora contains Latin and folk name of a plant, cover label, unity and
origin (natural or artificial). Form for tree species contains Latin and folk
name, number of plants on recorded surface, age of plants, damage and
health status, and finally the form for species of shrubs contains Latin and
common name, cover, unity, origin and damage.
Field recording on determined surfaces, extended to new areas identified during field work, was carried out from April to September 2015.
All data recorded in the field have been entered in excel. Areas where
ragweed was found have been plotted in GIS project, and they have been
associated with all data recorded in the field, as well as with the recommended way to combat ragweed for each location. GIS project was developed in MapInfo program. Raster cadastral maps of different proportions
(1: 1000, 1: 2500 and 1: 5000) were used. Data on ownership were taken
from the website of the Federal Administration for Geodetic and Property
Affairs (http://www.katastar.ba/).
Results and discussion
During field recording, ragweed was found at 105 points in the Canton Sarajevo. The coordinates of points with presence of ragweed, organized by the municipalities, are shown in Table 2, and their spatial distribution is shown in Figure 1.
20
Digital cadastre of ragweed’s sites in the Sarajevo Canton
Figure 1: Spatial distribution of points with the presence of ragweed
Table 2: Coordinates of points containing ragweed by municipalities
Municipality
No
East
long.
North
lat.
CENTAR
-
-
1.
43.789789
2.
3.
HADŽIĆI
No
East
long.
North
lat.
-
18.
43.846832
18.238615
18.148583
19.
43.798475
18.103948
43.825137
18.208129
20.
43.826980
18.213630
43.838922
18.217156
21.
43.821883
18.205518
4.
43.839998
18.217726
22.
43.824646
18.210078
5.
43.802835
18.203589
23.
43.803478
18.110189
6.
43.813047
18.191063
24.
43.800686
18.103111
7.
43.823755
18.204868
25.
43.790524
18.136190
8.
43.845446
18.228469
26.
43.789012
18.145627
9.
43.748924
18.043149
27.
43.785158
18.173232
10.
43.782831
18.072701
28.
43.793621
18.107969
11.
43.800735
18.104091
1.
43.866290
18.275146
12.
43.801922
18.107279
2.
43.867148
18.277330
13.
43.846757
18.240601
3.
43.863216
18.271618
14.
43.846753
18.237327
4.
43.868449
18.280260
15.
43.772911
18.058372
5.
43.842239
18.314243
16.
43.790071
18.118570
6.
43.846315
18.318819
17.
43.789763
18.136549
7.
43.834401
18.295956
Municipality
HADŽIĆI
ILIDŽA
21
Memišević Hodžić et al.
Municipality
ILIDŽA
ILIJAŠ
No
East
long.
North
lat.
Municipality
East
long.
North
lat.
8.
43.832831
18.281045
NOVI GRAD 1.
43.869238
18.311999
9.
43.758560
10.
43.867991
18.342668
2.
43.875430
18.288091
18.207857
3.
43.878412
18.314685
11.
12.
43.838339
18.307037
4.
43.886572
18.325227
43.837308
18.305172
5.
43.851046
18.326897
13.
43.839563
18.310027
6.
43.830313
18.332609
14.
43.844186
18.316655
7.
43.851081
18.345660
15.
43.837572
18.259674
8.
43.851031
18.338163
16.
43.835551
18.265559
9.
43.851238
18.350336
17.
43.843040
18.252405
10.
43.851715
18.355394
18.
43.833644
18.270994
11.
43.852163
18.360550
19.
43.835358
18.265702
12.
43.851746
18.319733
20.
43.839505
18.256980
13.
43.863232
18.313514
21.
43.838719
18.258498
1.
43.857913
18.386936
1.
44.082557
18.532840
2.
43.857818
18.383421
2.
43.972575
18.251009
3.
43.856612
18.379565
3.
43.944205
18.258844
4.
43.853813
18.366386
4.
43.942524
18.262382
5.
43.858190
18.384359
5.
43.941039
18.258448
43.855206
18.457875
6.
43.939925
18.280809
STARI
GRAD
1.
2.
43.851559
18.464042
7.
43.971510
18.251948
TRNOVO
8.
43.963904
18.263254
9.
43.994352
18.220771
10.
43.976288
18.241539
11.
43.939872
18.289724
12.
44.048426
18.466756
13.
43.959421
18.264288
14.
43.964980
18.273659
15.
43.946181
18.265427
16.
43.951128
18.263361
17.
43.986769
18.232463
18.
43.982915
18.394293
1.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
43.678313
43.900602
43.908763
43.919630
43.929887
43.911674
43.920015
43.918578
43.904308
43.915066
43.920620
43.929397
43.949342
43.963414
18.445813
18.326466
18.324314
18.316609
18.330599
18.323091
18.309721
18.305993
18.340424
18.319355
18.315246
18.329607
18.344815
18.361657
19.
43.976123
18.381243
20.
43.984783
18.413280
21.
43.992441
18.425013
22.
44.020311
18.437767
NOVO
SARAJEVO
VOGOŠĆA
No
For access to each specific data point, longitude and latitude given
in Table 2 can be easily copied into Google Maps and they can be found
without the database created in this study.
22
Digital cadastre of ragweed’s sites in the Sarajevo Canton
For an overview of the database of recorded data, regarding to habitat of ragweed in Canton Sarajevo, and supporting information (digital
cadastre of ragweed’s sites), any GIS viewer may be used (digital cadastre
is owned by the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection of Canton Sarajevo). The most common file extensions
for using the information data are .shp, .tab and .kml. For transformation
of file extension, different transformers that are integral tools of geoinformation program could be used. For overview, free viewers can also be
used, such as Google Earth Viewer for KML file extension. The installation of Google Earth Viewer is free (https://www.google.com/earth/).
Benefit of this viewer is that, in addition to information from database,
it contains other information such as names of settlements, infrastructure
(roads), administrative division etc. Click on a point/area with ragweed
and the accompanying database containing information specified in section Methods opens. This allows easy access to position of the surface
and its main features, and easy selection of ways of intervention for the
removal of ragweed.
Data can also be viewed in MapInfo Viewer for .tab file extension,
where it is also possible to perform variety of data analysis, as well as
upgrading data. Thus, one can analyse presence of ragweed depending
on various factors, such as types of substrates, purpose of use, damage
and soil types, vegetation types, exposure, degree of erosion, microrelief
shape, etc.
The largest number of points of ragweed appearing in this research
was on damaged land. As regards the type of substrate, significant part of
appearance of ragweed occurs on alluvium and tertiary flysch series, with
very different soil types.
Ragweed mostly appears on southern exposure.
In contrast to results of research conducted by Maslo (2014b) in the
city of Mostar, ragweed in Canton Sarajevo was not found in populated
areas (except in certain cases) or along banks of rivers but it is found along
roads (with badly maintained embankments) and railway line.
In this study, previous sites of ragweed specified by Šoljan and
Muratović (2000) were not confirmed. This may be because of better
maintenance of public green spaces in 2015, compared to the period 1991
to 1999, when the above mentioned authors conducted their research. This
could also be another confirmation of the well-known properties of ragweed that disappears from the already known sites (the above mentioned
23
Memišević Hodžić et al.
authors cited example of Branko Bujić Street where they found a great
number of individuals in 1996, and in 1999 not a single one.)
In the area of Canton Sarajevo there are only two measuring stations that collect data for reports on presence of pollen – locality Pofalići
(municipality Novo Sarajevo) and Stari Grad (municipality Old Town).
Data from these stations for 2015 and previous years shows that pollen
of ragweed is intensively present in July, August, September and October. Our experience also confirms this data for other municipalities with
more intensely blossoming of ragweed in July - municipalities of Ilijaš and
Hadžići.
Therefore, it could be concluded that the risk of allergic reactions to
ragweed pollen in Canton Sarajevo threatens in July, August, September
and October.
Conclusions
In the area of Canton Sarajevo 105 points/locations with presence of
ragweed were found.
Ragweed was found on embankments along all main roads passing
through the Canton Sarajevo. The reason for presence of ragweed in these
areas is usually reduced maintenance of embankments along roads. All
vital power and strength of ragweed can be seen on and along main roads.
One can see how ragweed grows from sand of embankments, from gaps
in asphalt, etc.
Ragweed was not found on highway embankments, probably due to
constant work and maintenance on sections of highway, which passes near
or through settlements.
This species is also present in and along railway line through the
entire area of the Canton. It sprouts from half-rotten thresholds and from
sand and rock detritus between them.
In a lesser degree, ragweed was found in agricultural crops, mostly
corn and wheat.
This species is most frequent in municipalities of Ilijaš, Hadžići and
Vogošća, because roads of mentioned categories pass through them, and
there are bigger non-maintained surfaces complexes.
Other municipalities: Stari Grad, Novi Grad, Centar, Novo Sarajevo
have denser population, higher number of private parcels maintained by
owners, better maintenance of public green surfaces, and smaller number
of agricultural areas which may be contaminated with seeds of ragweed.
24
Digital cadastre of ragweed’s sites in the Sarajevo Canton
Figure 2: Ragweed on railway line
Photo Mirzeta Memišević Hodžić
From several previous reports on movement of pollen on measuring
stations in Pofalici and Stari Grad, and observed dynamics of ragweed
flowering during this research, it can be concluded that the risk of allergic
reactions to ragweed pollen in the Canton Sarajevo threatens in July, August, September and October.
Measures to combat ragweed can be preventive, mechanical (mowing and pulling out) and chemical. Because of its presence in the vicinity of
settlements and roads, most convenient and most recommended measure
to combat ragweed in Canton Sarajevo is mowing. Recommended period
for mowing is May/June and early July, necessary before insemination.
Already in mid-July, ragweed on some sites is in full bloom and mowing
is not recommended (it would promote spreading of pollen). Pulling out
can be performed in April and May, while the plants are still small (up to
20 cm high).
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