Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of road type and urbanization on the diversity and abundance of alien species in roadside verges in Western Siberia

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The spread of alien plant species by vehicles profoundly affects the roadside vegetation. Roads with high traffic densities in urban regions may facilitate the invasion of alien plants. The present study examined the effects of road type and distance to the city centre on native and alien plant species in both the aboveground vegetation and soil seed bank of road verges in originally dry steppe grasslands in the surroundings of Pavlodar, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan. This region is characterized by a recent change of land use and rapidly expanding urbanization. Vegetation surveys were conducted at 12 sites distributed along roads with different traffic densities (national and local roads) and at two distances to the city centre (city edge and rural surroundings). The seedling-emergence method was used to examine the soil seed bank at each site. We found a larger percentage of alien species along national roads (42 % in the aboveground vegetation, 57 % in the soil seed bank) than along local roads (20 and 44 %, respectively), which can be explained by differences in traffic density, location from which the vehicles come and habitat conditions. More alien species were found in the road verges at the city edge than in the rural surroundings along both road types, probably due to the spread of propagules from residential areas. Our study demonstrates that national roads are important pathways for the introduction of alien species in this Western Siberian region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson MJ (2005) PERMANOVA: a FORTRAN computer program for permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, Auckland

    Google Scholar 

  • Angold PG (1997) The impact of a road upon adjacent heathland vegetation: effects on plant species composition. J Appl Ecol 34:409–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ansong M, Pickering C (2013) Are weeds hitchhiking a ride on your car? A systematic review of seed dispersal on cars. PLoS One 8(11):e:80275

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arévalo JR, Otto R, Escudero C, Fernández-Lugo S, Arteaga M, Delgado JD, Fernández-Palacios JM (2010) Do anthropogenic corridors homogenize plant communities at a local scale? A case studied in Tenerife (Canary Islands). Plant Ecol 209:23–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auffret AG, Cousins SAO (2013) Grassland connectivity by motor vehicles and grazing livestock. Ecography 36:1150–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun-Blanquet J (1964) Pflanzensoziologie: Grundzüge der Vegetationskunde. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Christen D, Matlack G (2006) The role of roadsides in plant invasions: a demographic approach. Conserv Biol 20:385–391

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cole DN (1995) Experimental trampling of vegetation. II. Predictors of resistance and resilience. J Appl Ecol 32:215–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Committee of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2015) Pavlodar region. http://www.stat.gov.kz/faces/homePage.htm

  • Crawley MJ (2013) The R book, 2nd edn. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Czerepanov SK (1995) Plantae Vasculares Rossicae et Civitatum Collimitanearum (in limicis USSR olim) (list of vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (in the limits of former USSR)). Mir I Semia, St. Petersburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Dufrêne M, Legendre L (1997) Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetric approach. Ecol Monogr 67:345–366

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer SF, Poschlod P, Beinlich B (1996) Experimental studies on the dispersal of plants and animals on sheep in calcareous grasslands. J Appl Ecol 33:1206–1222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher JL, Loneragan WA, Dixon K, Veneklaas EJ (2009) Soil seed bank compositional change constrains biodiversity in an invaded species-rich woodland. Biol Conserv 142:256–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler JF, Sieg CH, Dickson BG, Saab V (2008) Exotic plant species diversity: influence of roads and prescribed fire in Arizona ponderosa pine forests. Rangeland Ecol Manag 61:284–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goloskokov VP (1972) Иллюcтpиpoвaнный oпpeдeлитeль pacтeний Кaзaxcтaнa (Illustrated keys to plants of Kazakhstan). V. 1-2. Alma-Ata - Nauka of Kazakh SSR

  • Hayasaka D, Akasaka M, Miyauchi D, Box EO, Uchida T (2012) Qualitative variation in roadside weed vegetation along an urban–rural road gradient. Flora 207:126–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodkinson DJ, Thompson K (1997) Plant dispersal: the role of man. J Appl Ecol 34:1484–1496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes PM, Cowling RM (1997) Diversity, composition and guild structure relationships between soil-stored seed banks and mature vegetation in alien plant-invaded South African fynbos shrublands. Plant Ecol 133:107–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jantunen J, Saarinen K, Valtonen A, Saarnio S (2006) Grassland vegetation along roads differing in size and traffic density. Ann Bot Fenn 43:107–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Joly M, Bertrand P, Gbangou RY, White M-C, Dubé J, Lavoie C (2011) Paving the way for invasive species: road type and the spread of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). Environ Manag 48:514–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jutila HM, Grace JB (2002) Effects of disturbance on germination and seedling establishment in a coastal prairie grassland: a test of the competitive release hypothesis. J Ecol 90:291–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinugasa T, Oda S (2014) Effects of vehicle track formation on soil seed banks in grasslands with different vegetation in the Mongolian steppe. Ecol Eng 67:112–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manzano P, Malo JE (2006) Extreme long-distance seed dispersal via sheep. Front Ecol Evol 4:970–977

    Google Scholar 

  • Menuz DR, Kettenring KM (2013) The importance of roads, nutrients, and climate for invasive plant establishment in riparian areas in the northwestern United States. Biol Invasions 15:1601–1612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortensen DA, Rauschert ESJ, Nord AN, Jones BP (2009) Forest roads facilitate the spread of invasive plants. Invasive Plant Sci Manag 2:191–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muller FM (1978) Seedlings of the north-western European flora: a flora of seedlings. Junk, The Hague

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Müller-Schneider P (1986) Verbreitungsbiologie der Blütenpflanzen Graubündens. Heft 85. Veröffentl Geobot Inst ETH, Stiftung Rübel, Zürich

  • Nurmukhambetova GD (2002) Ecological and geobotanical characteristics of ruderal plant communities in the steppe zone (Kostanay region). Dissertation, Almaty

  • Pavlov NV (1956/1966) flora of Kazakhstan. vol 1–9. Academy of Science of Kazakh SSR, Alma-Ata

  • Pyšek P (1998) Alien and native species in Central European urban floras: a quantitative comparison. J Biogeogr 25:155–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raunkiaer C (1934) The life forms of plants and statistical plant geography/being the collected papers of C. Raunkiaer. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2011) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. http://www.Rproject.org

  • Robertson SG, Hickman KR (2012) Aboveground plant community and seed bank composition along an invasion gradient. Plant Ecol 213:1461–1475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy DB, Hill MO, Rothery P (1999) Effects of urban land cover on the local species pool in Britain. Ecography 22:507–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Šerá B (2010) Road-side herbaceous vegetation: life history groups and habitat preferences. Pol J Ecol 58:69–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma GP, Raghubanshi AS (2009) Plant invasions along roads: a case study from central highlands, India. Environ Monit Assess 157:191–198

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan JJ, Williams PA, Timmins SM, Smale MC (2009) Distribution and spread of environmental weeds along New Zealand roadsides. NZ J Ecol 33:190–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor K, Brummer T, Taper ML, Wing A, Rew LJ (2012) Human-mediated long-distance dispersal: an empirical evaluation of seed dispersal by vehicles. Divers Distrib 18:942–951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ter Heerdt GN, Verweij GL, Bekker RM, Bakker JP (1996) An improved method for seed-bank analysis: seedling emergence after removing the soil by sieving. Funct Ecol 10:144–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson K, Grime JP (1979) Seasonal variation in the seed bank of herbaceous species in ten contrasting habitats. J Ecol 67:893–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vakhlamova T, Rusterholz H-P, Kanibolotskaya Y, Baur B (2014) Changes in plant diversity along an urban–rural gradient in an expanding city in Kazakhstan, Western Siberia. Landsc Urban Plan 132:111–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vallet J, Daniel H, Beaujouan V, Rozé F, Pavione S (2010) Using biological traits to assess how urbanization filters plant species of small woodlands. Appl Veg Sci 13:412–424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von der Lippe M, Kowarik I (2008) Do cities export biodiversity? Traffic as dispersal vector across urban–rural gradients. Divers Distrib 14:18–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von der Lippe M, Kowarik I (2012) Interactions between propagule pressure and seed traits shape human-mediated seed dispersal along roads. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 14:123–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhumadilov BZ (2012) Analysis of flora of Ertysskiy floristic region within Eastern Kazakhstan steppe zone. Dissertation, S. Torajgyrov Pavlodar State University

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank V. A. Kamkin and N. E. Tarasovskaya for help with the species determination, A. P. Bondarenko and A. V. Vassilyev for advice and A. Baur, B. Braschler, S. Emery, D. Schlaepfer and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. T. Vakhlamova received a Scholarship for Foreign Students from the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Vorstadt 10, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Tatyana Vakhlamova, Hans-Peter Rusterholz & Bruno Baur

  2. Department of Biology and Ecology, S. Torajgyrov Pavlodar State University, Lomov st. 64, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, 140008

    Yuliya Kanibolotskaya

Authors
  1. Tatyana Vakhlamova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hans-Peter Rusterholz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yuliya Kanibolotskaya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bruno Baur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hans-Peter Rusterholz.

Additional information

Communicated by Sarah M. Emery.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vakhlamova, T., Rusterholz, HP., Kanibolotskaya, Y. et al. Effects of road type and urbanization on the diversity and abundance of alien species in roadside verges in Western Siberia. Plant Ecol 217, 241–252 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-016-0565-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-016-0565-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation