Distribution of alien vs. native plant species in roadside communities along an altitudinal gradient in Tenerife and Gran Canaria (Canary Islands)

By J. Arévalo, J. Delgado, R. Otto, A. Naranjo, Marcos Salas, J. Fernández-Palacios. 2005

222 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Roadside plant communities were studied along two roads following an altitudinal gradient in Gran Canaria and Tenerife (Canary Islands). Our aim was to investigate variation in plant species richness, particularly of the alien flora, along a gradient from coastal shrubland to summit vegetation (1950 m a.s.l. in Gran Canaria, 2300 m in Tenerife) in relation to variation in habitat factors (altitude, habitat structure, roadside disturbance, distance to urban nuclei). We compared different species groups that were classified in terms of their biogeographical status, origin and life form. Altitude was the most important factor determining species richness and composition along both roadside transects. Alien plants showed a unimodal distribution pattern along the altitudinal gradient, with less species and lower abundance at low and high altitudes, and highest abundance at intermediate altitude. Alien plant species were also relatively more frequent near urban centres. The number of native and alien species was significantly positively correlated along the altitudinal gradient. Both alien and native, non-endemic species showed differences in their distribution along the altitudinal gradient according to their biogeographical affinities and climatic tolerances. Despite considerable differences in species pools these patterns were consistent among the two islands. Environmental (abiotic) stress is proposed as a primary, altitude-related factor acting as a filter against most alien plants at coastal and highmountain altitudes. A higher frequency or intensity of disturbance at intermediate altitudes may be a further causal factor promoting alien plants in this zone. Future management efforts to control alien plants along roads should, therefore, concentrate on intermediate altitudinal zones of the higher Canary Islands.

Subfields: Cell Biology, Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/029de0b97f4f2f9d5305b576936ce9523f71261c

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Citations in the corpus

Ain't no mountain high enough: plant invasions reaching new elevations (2009, background): “In contrast, on subtropical oceanic islands, non-native species richness is generally highest at mid-elevation (Tassin and Riviere 2003; Arévalo et al. 2005; Jakobs and Kueffer unpublished; Figure 2).”
Facilitation of the non-native Taraxacum officinale by native nurse cushion species in the high Andes of central Chile: are there differences between nurses? (2007, background): “However, several studies have reported the presence of non-native species in a number of alpine habitats (e.g. Arévalo et al. 2005; Beccker et al. 2005; McDougall et al. 2005), where disturbance and negative interactions among native and exotic species have been proposed as key factors determining…”
Upper-montane plant invasions in the Hawaiian Islands: Patterns and opportunities (2005, result): “Overall, 14% of naturalized species were considered disruptive, and this is comparable to results from mountain transects in the Canary Islands, where 8–11% of naturalized species were considered transformer species (Arévalo et al., 2005).”
Altitudinal distribution of alien plant species in the Swiss Alps (2005, background): “Roadside surveys of such ruderal habitats along mountain passes have the advantages of being easily accessible and providing relatively constant site conditions across a wide range of elevation (see also Arévalo et al., 2005).”
Plant invasions along mountain roads: the altitudinal amplitude of alien Asteraceae forbs in their native and introduced ranges (2009, background): “Along altitudinal gradients, many factors change simultaneously across rather small geographical scales (Arévalo et al. 2005, Becker et al. 2005).”
The role of bioclimatic origin, residence time and habitat context in shaping non-native plant distributions along an altitudinal gradient (2010, background): “In: Kunkel G (ed) Biogeography and ecology in the Canary Islands, Dr. W. Junk b.v. Publishers, The Hague, pp 249–266 Kunkel G (1987) Die Kanarischen Inseln und ihre Pflanzenwelt.”