SOIL DEVELOPMENT AT THE ROADSIDE: A CASE STUDY OF A NOVEL ECOSYSTEM
ABSTRACT Over the last few decades, road construction has increased dramatically, and new surfaces have appeared in most landscapes. Standard roadside reclamation practices often fail, because vegetation establishment appears to be limited by microsite availability. We considered soil properties as...
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Published in | Land degradation & development Vol. 24; no. 6; pp. 564 - 574 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Chichester
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.11.2013
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | ABSTRACT
Over the last few decades, road construction has increased dramatically, and new surfaces have appeared in most landscapes. Standard roadside reclamation practices often fail, because vegetation establishment appears to be limited by microsite availability. We considered soil properties as a key factor driving vegetation establishment on roadslopes over time. We address the following questions: (i) Are soil features conditioned by type of roadslope, position thereupon or applied hydroseeding? (ii) Is there any evidence of soil development at the roadside four years after road construction? (iii) Do mutual interactions exist between soil features and vegetation cover? We designed an experimental set‐up on a highway in Central Spain (Madrid). We selected 15 roadslopes (nine roadcuts and six embankments) with three hydroseeding treatments (commercial, alternative and untreated). Four years after the road construction, we considered three roadslope positions (top, middle and bottom) to take into account the geomorphological gradient. We monitored soil features and vegetation cover over 4 years after the road construction. Soil chemical differences were found between roadslope types, mainly resulted from topsoil spreading on embankments and the weathering of the newly exposed materials on roadcuts. Applied amendments do not affect soil fertility or vegetation cover. In the course of time, vegetation establishment and geomorphological gradients operate differentially on roadcuts and embankments. Accordingly, cycling back of organic compounds or geomorphological processes differs between roadslopes types. Restoration efforts should be directed to guarantee key ecological processes and support soil formation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-B39KB4B3-F istex:426A01341F26F1315CB7DE16F94DB3F37559EAEB ArticleID:LDR1157 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 1085-3278 1099-145X |
DOI: | 10.1002/ldr.1157 |