Alien flora in grasslands adjacent to road and trail corridors in Glacier National Park, Montana (USA)
Tyser RW and Worley CA. 1992. Alien flora in grasslands adjacent to road and trail corridors in Glacier National Park, Montana (USA). Conservation Biology. 6(2):253-262
Article discusses the alien flora of fescue grasslands adjacent to primary roads, secondary roads, and backcountry trails in Glacier National Park, Montana. Study is part of a long term monitoring project to identify encroachment of alien flora in grassland habitats. Alien plant species have rapidly invaded and successfully displaced native species in many grasslands of western North America. This study describes alien flora in nine fescue grassland study sites adjacent to three types of transportation corridors: primary roads, secondary roads, and back-country trails in Glacier National Park, Montana (U.S.A.). Parallel transects, placed at varying distances from the adjacent road or trail, were used to determine alien species richness and frequency at individual study sites. 15 exotic species were recorded, two Eurasian grasses, Phleum pratense and Poa pratensis, being particularly common in most of the study sites. In sites adjacent to primary and secondary roads, alien species richness declined out to the most distant transect, suggesting that alien species are successfully invading grasslands from the roadside areas. In study sites adjacent to backcountry trails, absence of a comparable decline and unexpectedly high levels of alien species richness 100 m from the trailside suggest that alien species have been introduced in off-trail areas.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Tyser, Robin; Worley, Christopher
- Units
- GLAC
- Keywords
- common timothy (Phleum pratense), disturbance corridors, Exotic Species, Grassland, Invasion, Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), Monitoring, Plant Studies, Roads, Species Richness, Trails, Transects