Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem.
Effects of roads on plant communities are not well known in cold-climate mountain ecosystems, where road building and development are expected to increase in future decades. Knowledge of the sensitivity of mountain plant communities to disturbance by roads is however important for future conservatio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24586947/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1818701432367349760 |
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| author | Jonas J Lembrechts Ann Milbau Ivan Nijs |
| author_facet | Jonas J Lembrechts Ann Milbau Ivan Nijs |
| author_sort | Jonas J Lembrechts |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Effects of roads on plant communities are not well known in cold-climate mountain ecosystems, where road building and development are expected to increase in future decades. Knowledge of the sensitivity of mountain plant communities to disturbance by roads is however important for future conservation purposes. We investigate the effects of roads on species richness and composition, including the plant strategies that are most affected, along three elevational gradients in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. We also examine whether mountain roads promote the introduction and invasion of alien plant species from the lowlands to the alpine zone. Observations of plant community composition were made together with abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors in 60 T-shaped transects. Alpine plant communities reacted differently to road disturbances than their lowland counterparts. On high elevations, the roadside species composition was more similar to that of the local natural communities. Less competitive and ruderal species were present at high compared with lower elevation roadsides. While the effects of roads thus seem to be mitigated in the alpine environment for plant species in general, mountain plant communities are more invasible than lowland communities. More precisely, relatively more alien species present in the roadside were found to invade into the surrounding natural community at high compared to low elevations. We conclude that effects of roads and introduction of alien species in lowlands cannot simply be extrapolated to the alpine and subarctic environment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T15:20:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-977c630097d74190b8229c96c9c204f1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T15:20:45Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-977c630097d74190b8229c96c9c204f12022-12-21T21:43:25ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0192e8966410.1371/journal.pone.0089664Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem.Jonas J LembrechtsAnn MilbauIvan NijsEffects of roads on plant communities are not well known in cold-climate mountain ecosystems, where road building and development are expected to increase in future decades. Knowledge of the sensitivity of mountain plant communities to disturbance by roads is however important for future conservation purposes. We investigate the effects of roads on species richness and composition, including the plant strategies that are most affected, along three elevational gradients in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. We also examine whether mountain roads promote the introduction and invasion of alien plant species from the lowlands to the alpine zone. Observations of plant community composition were made together with abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors in 60 T-shaped transects. Alpine plant communities reacted differently to road disturbances than their lowland counterparts. On high elevations, the roadside species composition was more similar to that of the local natural communities. Less competitive and ruderal species were present at high compared with lower elevation roadsides. While the effects of roads thus seem to be mitigated in the alpine environment for plant species in general, mountain plant communities are more invasible than lowland communities. More precisely, relatively more alien species present in the roadside were found to invade into the surrounding natural community at high compared to low elevations. We conclude that effects of roads and introduction of alien species in lowlands cannot simply be extrapolated to the alpine and subarctic environment.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24586947/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Jonas J Lembrechts Ann Milbau Ivan Nijs Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. PLoS ONE |
| title | Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. |
| title_full | Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. |
| title_fullStr | Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. |
| title_short | Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. |
| title_sort | alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24586947/pdf/?tool=EBI |
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