Ecological Restoration on Roadsides: Examining Ecological and Organizational Feasibility

Ecological Restoration;Roadsides;Natural Resources and Environment

Haan, NathanHunter, MaryCarol ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Ecological Restoration;    Roadsides;    Natural Resources and Environment;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/77596/Nathan%20Haan%20SNRE%20Thesis%202010.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Highways and their vegetated easements are associated with several ecological andenvironmental problems. Ecological restoration on roadsides holds potential to ameliorate someof these by providing erosion control, improving landscape connectivity, and providing habitatfor insects and other wildlife. However, due to both ecological and organizational constraints,roadsides are a challenging environment to restore. In particular, criteria for selecting appropriatesites and species for restoration are needed.In order to help meet this need, we transplanted seedlings of nine grassland species ontoplots on eight highway interchanges surrounding Ann Arbor, Michigan. We tested thehypothesis that generalist species would outperform specialist species. We quantified twoestimates of ;;niche breadth’ for each species, using the plants’ coefficients of conservatism andthe number of U.S. counties in which each species is known to occur. We measured seedlingsurvival, height, and biomass during the first growing season, as well as survival one year aftertransplant. We also quantified several ecological variables at each site in order to determinewhich of these predicted plant survival on interchanges. Neither index of niche breadth was auseful predictor of survival; though survival varied by species and by interchange. Plants weremore likely to survive in sandier soils than those rich in silt or clay, with high bulk density, andhigh pH and conductivity. Temperature and humidity were near-significant predictors ofsurvival, with survival positively associated with higher average humidity and lower averagetemperatures.Michigan has the potential to institute a restoration-oriented roadside vegetationmanagement program. Policy related to roadside vegetation management, at both the federallevel and in Michigan, has gradually become more ecologically-focused, though much of this hasiiiyet to be realized in practice. Using efforts in Iowa as a model, this study concludes by providingspecific logistical considerations for transportation department officials in Michigan related toroadside re-vegetation using native plants.