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The impact of forest roads on understory plant diversity in temperate hornbeam-beech forests of Northern Iran

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Abstract

Forest roads alter the biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems, modifying temperature, humidity, wind speed, and light availability that, in turn, cause changes in plant community composition and diversity. We aim at investigating and comparing the diversity of herbaceous species along main and secondary forest roads in a temperate-managed hornbeam-beech forest, north of Iran. Sixteen transects along main and secondary forest roads were established (eight transects along main roads and eight along secondary roads). To eliminate the effect of forest type, all transects were located in Carpinetum-Fagetum forests, the dominant forest type in the study area. The total length of each transect was 200 m (100 m toward up slope and 100 m toward down slope), and plots were established along it at different distances from road edge. The diversity of herbaceous plant species was calculated in each plot using Shannon-Wiener index, species richness, and Pielou’s index. The results showed that diversity index decreased when distance from road edge increases. This decreasing trend continued up to 60 m from forest road margin, and after this threshold, the index slightly increased. Depending on the type of road (main or secondary) as well as cut or fill slopes, the area showing a statistical different plant composition and diversity measured through Shannon-Wiener, species richness, and Pielou’s index is up to 10 m. The length depth of the road edge effect found in main and secondary forest roads was small, but it could have cumulative effects on forest microclimate and forest-associated biota at the island scale. Forest managers should account for the effect of road buildings on plant communities.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Kevin Boston is thanked for his supportive comments and reviews in early version of this paper and also English improvement. Dr. John Toland Van Stan is thanked for English improvement. The authors also express their sincere appreciation to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and valuable detailed comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry and Forest Economics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Azade Deljouei, Ehsan Abdi & Baris Majnounian

  2. Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, USA

    Matteo Marcantonio

  3. Department of Life Sciences, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy

    Valerio Amici

  4. Department of Forestry, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran

    Hormoz Sohrabi

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  1. Azade Deljouei
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  2. Ehsan Abdi
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Highlights

Careful planning of road building would allow to minimize the negative effect of road construction. Roads cause changes in ecosystems at multiple scales, from the microclimatic processes in the road corridor to the population dynamics and dispersal possibilities of different species. The effects of roads can be measured as the distance from the road, within which changes in species diversity and abundance as well as in hydrological flows, erosion and sedimentation rates can be observed, relative to a control location. Hence, it is plausible that forest plants in adjacent of road and forest interior have different characteristics. In this study, we aim at investigating the diversity of herbaceous species along main and secondary roads in Hyrcanian forest, north of Iran, taking into account the effect of cut slope (the soil surface that remains above the road after material is removed) and fill slope (the soil surface build below the road).

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Deljouei, A., Abdi, E., Marcantonio, M. et al. The impact of forest roads on understory plant diversity in temperate hornbeam-beech forests of Northern Iran. Environ Monit Assess 189, 392 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6105-1

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