| Abstract | Ipomoea carnea was introduced to Egypt for ornamental purpose. It naturalized as a species along canals and drains, road sides, railways, waste lands and field edges in the Nile Delta. The rapid growth rate, spread and adaptability from aquatic to xerophytic habitats indicate that this invasive plant may potentially become another ecological disaster like water hyacinth. The present work monitored the demography of I. carnea populations at two locations in Nile Delta in terms of size structure (natality, mortality, survival & demographic flux) and assessed its standing crop and the correlation between its population characters and the prevailing environmental variables. Fifty permanent stands were established to represent the microvariations in seven habitats, where I. carnea occurs at both locations. The height from the ground and average diameter of the canopy for each permanent marked ramet (4355 ramets) were estimated monthly and its volume was calculated as a cylinder. The results revealed that sexual propagation of I. carnea from seeds is less common than vegetative propagation from decumbent branches. The variation in population natality varied in relation to habitat and time. I. carnea sprouts suffered relatively higher mortality rates than adult plants, indicating the sensitivity of the sprouts to temporal variation in some environmental factors. Months of July and January indicated negative values of demographic flux as a result of the increasing mortality and decreasing natality. In contrast, June had maximum value as no sprout and adult mortalities was moted in this month. The size distribution of I. carnea populations had negative skewed shape, where the big individuals (i.e., mature) exceeded the small ones (i.e., juveniles). The biomass of I. carnea was higher than the other species in the same habitats in the Nile Delta. |