Made available through Montana State University's ScholarWorks scholarworks.montana.edu Running off the road: roadside non-native plants invading mountain vegetation

A popular walking track in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales, passes through areas of feldmark vegetation, a windswept community of sparse dwarf shrubs, cushion plants and herbs. The prevailing westerly winds in this area prune the windward edges of the dominant Epacris gunnii shrubs. Layering on the protected side effectively means that the shrubs slowly move across the ridgetops. Twenty-five transects were placed perpendicular to the track in a patch of feldmark north of Mt Kosciuszko. The density of selected species and the total number of species were recorded in quadrats placed in the track centre, track edges and feldmark vegetation at 5 and 10 m from both sides of the track to determine whether the track has interrupted feldmark processes and affected species abundance. The abundance of all species and the number of species per quadrat was lowest in the track centre. Three species (including E. gunnii) were found to be less abundant on the leeward edge of the track than on the windward edge, suggesting that the track has indirectly interfered with feldmark processes. Two of the species were as abundant on track edges as at 5 and 10 m from the track. The area of affected vegetation is currently very small and it may take decades before the effect is obvious to people using the track. Management options for reducing or eliminating the impact are discussed.

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Damage to vegetation from tourism and recreation includes the impacts of hiking trails, which may favour trampling-tolerant plants over those that are more sensitive to this type of disturbance. To assess how continued use of a hiking trail coupled with changes in local climate affect a rare Australian alpine plant community, we compared plant composition at different distances from a trail in 2013 during wetter conditions with that 10 years prior during a drought in 2003. In both years, only a few trampling-tolerant graminoids and cushion plants were found on the trail surface, which runs along the ridgeline. Species richness and cover in both surveys generally increased with distance from the trail, but there were differences between the windward and leeward sides of the trail. This included increased abundance of some species but continued disruption of shrub succession on the leeward side of the trail. There was an overall increase in species richness between the two surveys, and changes in the abundance of many species independent of trampling effects, possibly reflecting the more favourable/wetter conditions for plant growth in 2013. These results suggest that changes in climatic conditions can affect community composition, but that this has not negated the impact of the hiking trail on this rare community. With average temperatures increasing, and snow cover declining in the Australian Alps, it is likely that there will be even more changes in the Windswept Feldmark, including the potential colonisation of these ridges by more competitive species, such as graminoids, at the expense of the dominant shrub and some herbs that are already adversely affected by trampling. Longer term monitoring of this rare community is imperative to better understand community processes in relation to the impacts of trail use and climate change. Management options to reduce these impacts are discussed.