Spontaneous succession on road verges—An effective approach with minimum effort

Abstract

Road verges represent new habitats providing an opportunity for enhancing biodiversity in human-altered landscapes. However, it is common practice to plant trees or sow species-poor seed mixtures regardless of their geographical origin. We assessed the effectiveness of spontaneous restoration to fulfil the requirements for both functions, the formation of vegetation cover to prevent erosion and native species-rich vegetation, which may provide conservation benefits. We sampled 113 vegetation plots on road verges in the Czech Republic, central Europe. The sampling plots were 25 m 2 in size and differed in age (1-42 years). We recorded surrounding landscape (land-cover categories, landscape heterogeneity, and length of roads and railways in a 1-km radius zone) and site factors (altitude, substrate texture, slope, aspect, and potential solar radiation) and analysed the data using multivariate methods. Species composition was significantly explained by successional age, altitude, substrate texture, and surrounding forest area. The total herb cover reached on average 30% already in the first 2 years, and later shrub and tree layers developed. Out of 320 identified vascular plant species, almost 5% (15 species) were endangered and 6% (19 species) were invasive aliens. Early successional stages were characterised by a high cover of insect-pollinated species, which can serve as important food sources for insects. Despite some limitations (poor seed sources and inconvenient site conditions), our results showed that spontaneous succession could be used more often in the restoration of road verges because this approach may provide an alternative, cost-effective solution of reasonable conservation value.

Exploring main soil drivers of vegetation succession in abandoned croplands of Minqin Oasis, China

“…Vegetation succession, a topic of interest in the context of ecological restoration ( Janečková et al, 2021 ; Coradini, Krejčová & Frouz, 2022 ), is often studied using the space-for-time substitution method ( Zhang et al, 2021 ; Hao & Dong, 2023 ). The principles of spontaneous vegetation succession can be used as a scientific basis for restoration ecology, including knowledge of plant community composition, species diversity, species turnover, and driving factors.…”

Potential of vegetation and woodland cover recovery during primary and secondary succession, a global quantitative review

“…Succession represents a widely studied ecological phenomenon with great practical importance as recovering communities during succession also allow the recovery of key ecosystem functions (Ellis, 2013; Ellis et al, 2010; Prach & Walker, 2011). Spontaneous succession is the process of ecosystems' natural recovery after a disturbance, without anthropogenic interventions, and its ability has been proved to be valid and effective with high practical importance for the restoration of every kind of land and is a successful solution for an easier and cheaper restoration of habitats (Frouz et al, 2008; Janečková et al, 2021). For this reason, the policies aimed at reversing the widespread effects of environmental degradation should also consider spontaneous succession as a possible option for the restoration of habitats suffering from decay due to human impacts or subject to other natural destruction (Prach et al, 2001; Šebelíková et al, 2018).…”