Eighteen Years of Herbaceous Layer Recovery of a Recreation Area in a Mesic Forest

Gibson, David J.; Adams, Eric D.; Ely, Joseph S.; Gustafson, Danny J.; McEwen, Douglas; Evans, Tracy R.

doi:10.2307/3088760

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Ruderal invaders are common in oldfield succession and forests with a high frequency of anthropogenic disturbance, but typically decrease in importance over time in the absence of disturbance (Rejmánek, 1989;Gibson et al, 2000). Shade-tolerant invaders, however, often thrive in forest understories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stand dynamics of an insular population of an invasive tree, Acer platanoides

Webster

Nelson

Wangen

2005

Forest Ecology and Management

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stand dynamics of an insular population of an invasive tree, Acer platanoides

Webster

Nelson

Wangen

2005

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…It is recognized that spatial concentration of recreation (Marion and Farrell 2002;Vos et al 2003) is a functional management option to limit the effects, although cautious planning is required. Concentration may result in larger undisturbed fragments while the establishment of native species on the excluded path could lead to natural restoration of the impacted site in relatively short periods (Gibson et al 2000;Roovers et al 2005a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

May seed banks contribute to vegetation restoration on paths in temperate deciduous forest?

et al. 2006

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Forest paths are characterised by a zonation in vegetation composition as a result of gradients in abiotical conditions and continued recreational impact. Little is known about how much seed bank composition is affected by recreation and the existing path structure. As it is difficult to assess the contribution of seed banks to vegetation restoration, this study imparts relevant knowledge to restore vegetation on paths which are closed for recreational use. We surveyed seed bank and field layer vegetation composition in transects across path ecotones in deciduous forest. Analysis concentrated on seed bank characteristics and similarities of the seed bank and field layer vegetation in terms of ecological and seed size groups. A total of 74 species and 9,815 seedlings germinated out of the seed bank samples. The total seed density does not differ between path zones, but significant differences exist in the depth distribution and composition of the seed bank throughout transects. There is a large discrepancy between the composition of the seed bank and the vegetation. Small seeded species of disturbed environments dominate in each path zone. Typical forest species dominate in the vegetation while their contribution to the seed bank is low. Only with reference to the proportion of species of forest edges and clearings, the seed bank and vegetation do not differ significantly. Similarity between the seed bank on the path centre and the vegetation in the respective path zones decreases towards the undisturbed forest vegetation. Some competitive species like Urtica dioica and Lythrum salicaria are excessively represented in the seed bank and efficiently may obstruct further visitor use. However, these early successional species may not contribute to the conservation values of forests. Therefore management should carefully consider alternative amendments (e.g. soil scarification and seeding) to stimulate vegetation restoration.

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“…Earlier research of Gibson et al (2000) in comparable forest ecosystems of Northern America indicated that an acceptable recovery towards the initial state would take 11-20 years. Here also, an acceptable herbaceous layer was defined as similar to that of the surrounding forest and not to the original situation before recreation was excluded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Cole, 1995;Gallet and Rozé, 2002;Whinam and Chilcott, 1999;Roovers et al, 2004b) has monitored recovery patterns after seclusion from recreation. Except for the studies of Gibson et al (2000) and Godefroid et al (2003), little observational research has clarified the time span necessary to obtain substantial vegetation recovery after a long regime of continuous recreation activity. Also, it is unclear what obstructions are needed to counter continued recreational use in specific conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Even without extra disturbances, plant communities are subjected to long-term habitat dynamics, so complete development towards a pre-disturbance condition is unlikely (Gibson et al, 2000). This explains why we chose not to incorporate references to ecosystem composition in the past but to interpret changes relative to the situation in undisturbed parts of the ecosystem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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