Effects of road age on the structure of roadside vegetation in south-eastern Australia |
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| Authors: | Peter G Spooner Lisa Smallbone |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science and Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, University of Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia;2. Department of Resource Management and Geography, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia;3. Carbon Planet, Level 4, 170 North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia;4. Environment Futures Centre, Griffith School of Environment, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, 170 Kessells Road, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia;5. Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia;1. Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group, School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia;2. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia;1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970, Bloco IV, Prédio 43.433, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;2. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91540-000, Prédio 43.411, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;3. Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970, Bloco IV, Prédio 43.433, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;1. Department of Ecology, Chair of Ecosystem Science/Plant Ecology, Technische Universität Berlin, Rothenburgstr. 12, D-12165 Berlin, Germany;2. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195 Berlin, Germany;3. Department of Ecology, Chair of Ecological Impact Research and Ecotoxicology, Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst Reuter Platz 1, D-10587 Berlin, Germany;1. Department of Ecology, Chair of Ecosystem Science/Plant Ecology, Technische Universität Berlin, Rothenburgstr. 12, 12165 Berlin, Germany;2. Department of Ecology, Chair of Ecological Impact Research and Ecotoxicology, Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst Reuter Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany;3. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195 Berlin, Germany |
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| Abstract: | In many agricultural landscapes, roadside (or road verge) environments provide important refuge for threatened native species and ecosystems, and are often selected as benchmark sites to guide restoration activities. However few studies have investigated potential temporal variability in roadside vegetation conditions. In this paper we used archived cadastral maps to determine road age and examine potential variability in roadside vegetation structures in a typical rural landscape in south-eastern Australia. We found significant differences in the density of mature trees for road segments in different road-age categories. The oldest roads (<1870s) were characterized by having the greatest density of large hollow-bearing Eucalyptus trees, but few native conifer trees or shrubs. Roads surveyed when broad-scale clearing commenced (1870–1879), and not the oldest roads, were found to be more intact in terms of the density of large pre-settlement trees, range of tree stem-size classes and overall shrub diversity. By contrast, the youngest roads (post-1900s) had the greatest number of native conifer trees, but few shrubs or large Eucalyptus trees. As a result, roads of different ages had different densities of hollow-bearing trees, which is discussed in terms of past land-use legacies. These results have important implications for selecting roadsides as benchmark sites for restoration activities, and highlight the critical importance of roadsides to conserving native biota in agricultural landscapes. |
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