Shaping the Ecotone Zone in Forest Communities That Are Adjacent to Expressway Roads

Abstract

As a result of forest fragmentation, ecotones have become an important contribution to the landscape. The areas that include ecotones are constantly growing, thus creating new habitats for plants and animals. The factor that has the greatest impact on the configuration and extent of an ecotone is called the “edge effect”. The aim of this study was to determine the width of the ecotones in forests that are adjacent to an expressway and to characterize the edge effect they produced. The research was performed along ten transects situated at the edge of a forest and in the interior part of a forest (plots from 0 to 200 m). The structures of the forest stand, trees, shrubs, dwarf shrubs and herbs were determined and data on the species composition and species cover were also collected. Results of the statistical analyses (linear mixed models as well as detrended and canonical correspondence analyses) indicated significant changes in the structure, species composition, and species turnover that were dependent on the distance from the edge of the forest. It was shown that shrubs (cover, density, species richness) were the most affected while vascular plants were the least affected. However, the changes were ambiguous. There was either an increase or decrease in the individual parameters of the forest structure and the coverage of forest species. The extent of the forest edge began at a minimum distance of 0–20 m.

Біотична зумовленість стійкості біогеоценозів Pinus mugo Turra в Чивчино-Гринявських горах Українських Карпат

“…Просторове покриття та екологічне значення соснового криволісся особливо заслуговують на увагу в екосистемах, які були фрагментовані діяльністю людини, а також в екосистемах, які є природним фрагментованим, демонструючи мозаїчне розташування різноманітних середовищ існування. Хоча антропогенно створені сосновs криволісся були добре вивчені в останні кілька десятиліть [9], межfv між суміжними природними та напівприродними екосистемами приділяли значно менше уваги [11].…”

The type of forest edge shapes snail assemblages at forest–pasture transitions

“…Numerous studies have examined the abundance and/or taxonomical diversity (species richness or species diversity) of different organisms inhabiting forest edges (e.g., in plants 13 , 14 , arthropods 15 , 16 , birds 17 , and mammals 18 ). Abundance and taxonomical diversity, however, provide little information about the mechanisms that shape communities, although such information is essential for biodiversity research 19 .…”

Butterflies benefit from forest edge improvements in Western European lowland forests, irrespective of adjacent meadows’ use intensity

“…Understanding how the edge type may alter the dispersal behaviour and the composition of the species diversity is of high importance not only for identifying response patterns to edge effects but also for predicting species community composition in human-dominated fragmented landscapes (Alignier et al, 2014;Van Halder et al, 2011). Currently, the underlying mechanisms of FE effects are poorly understood (Czaja et al, 2021). In particular, we lack consistent approaches to quantify the impacts of edge effects in a rigorous manner across species and key functional groups, leading to potentially distorted projections of overall changes in biodiversity in fragmented landscapes (Pfeifer et al, 2017).…”