1. Substrate Factors Determine Roadside Vegetation Structure and Species Richness: A Case Study Along a Meridional Gradient in Fennoscandia
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Waldemar Heise, Małgorzata Jaźwa, and Beata Klimek
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0106 biological sciences ,Salinity ,Road ecology ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,ekologia dróg ,Plant Development ,Zonal and meridional ,sieć drogowa ,substrate ,010501 environmental sciences ,ecological corridors ,Toxicology ,01 natural sciences ,Article ,Russia ,Salt deposition ,Canonical correspondence analysis ,Soil Pollutants ,korytarze ekologiczne ,traffic system ,Finland ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Sweden ,Hydrology ,Ecological corridors ,salt deposition ,Norway ,Ecology ,Biodiversity ,General Medicine ,Vegetation ,Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ,Plants ,15. Life on land ,Substrate (marine biology) ,Pollution ,depozycja soli ,road ecology ,Traffic system ,Plant cover ,Environmental science ,podłoże ,Species richness ,Substrate ,010606 plant biology & botany - Abstract
This study assessed the effects of road-related alteration of substrate, including increased salinity, on vegetation along a meridional gradient in Fennoscandia. Vegetation community composition were surveyed in 29 randomly selected 1-m(2) sized roadside plots. Number of plant species and plant cover (%) on the plots were positively interrelated (p 0.0001). Both variables also decreased towards the north and with increasing coarseness of the substrate. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that roadside vegetation diversity and composition were most related to the importance of the road (i.e. its size and traffic intensity) and substrate pH. Road importance affects plant dispersal, whereas substrate pH was found to be a factor limiting growth. CCA indicated also that vegetation composition was affected by the meridional gradient and by the substrate salinity; both substrate salinity pH and salinity were not related to meridional gradient. Our results indicate that roadside vegetation diversity and composition is driven by natural and anthropogenic factors.
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