The impact of species introduced to control tree invasion on the vegetation of an electrical utility right-of-way

Author:

Brown Doug

Abstract

Utilities must remove trees from their rights-of-way on a frequent basis. Many use selective removal methods that leave the nontarget ground cover intact. It is thought that this ground cover will inhibit the subsequent establishment of trees, thus reducing future maintenance needs. An alternative approach is to plant highly competitive species that are able to produce stable communities. This paper describes a project set out to determine if seeding such cover crops would affect the composition of the right-of-way vegetation, and to what extent the resulting community would affect the time course of succession towards a forest. Four cover crops (Festuca rubra L., Dactylis glomerata L., Lotus corniculatus L., and Coronilla varia L.) were evaluated for a 5-year period. The cover and abundance of all vegetation was assessed annually, and the ordination program DECORANA was used to investigate the changes in the vegetation over time. To provide a measure of the effect of the crops on tree growth, 1-year-old transplants of Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh. and Acer saccharum Marsh and unrooted cuttings of Populus ×canadensis Moench. were planted into each plot. Dactylis has the largest effect on the vegetation. This grass reduced forb biomass by 70%, producing a community with significantly lower species richness. The time trajectories of the ordination indicate that this treatment is changing the overall development of the plant community. In addition, the survival of the Fraxinus and Populus planted into the Dactylis plots was reduced to 75 and 0% of the unseeded controls. These results indicate that some crops are capable of altering the community composition in the early stages of development, and may inhibit the establishment of trees. Key words: power corridor, vegetation control, competition, interference.

Publisher

Canadian Science Publishing

Subject

Plant Science

Cited by 15 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3