Alien roadside species more easily invade alpine than lowland plant communities in a subarctic mountain ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: 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 comm

SUBMITTER: Lembrechts JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3935920 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature