10.21973/N3KX0W
Maria Carias
Emily Hascall
Kelsey Pennington
Jasmine Summers-Evans
Paving the way for habitat disturbance: Different road types have distinct ecological impacts on annual plant communities and gall-forming insects in the Mojave Desert
University of California Natural Reserve System
2021
Text
road disturbance
Mojave Desert
Larrea tridentata
Erodium cicutarium
Bromus spp.
Kathleen Wong
Kathleen
Wong
University of California Natural Reserve System
Winter 2021
pdf
Road disturbance can facilitate the establishment and growth of invasive plant species and herbivorous insects in adjacent ecosystems. The hydrological and atmospheric impacts of roads are especially important to understand in arid desert environments that are highly sensitive to water stress and dust pollution. In this study, we looked at how impacts of road disturbance change among different road types within the Mojave Desert. Specifically, we observed how three types of roads (paved road, dirt road, and hiking trail) and proximity to the roads impact both the abundance and size of germinating annual plants and the density of galls on creosote bushes (Larrea tridentata). Additionally, we tested the effect of dust pollution on the growth of Erodium cicutarium and Bromus spp. Different types of roads produced distinct ecological impacts on the surrounding plant and insect communities. Paved roads had the highest gall density and largest Bromus spp., while dirt roads had smaller Erodium cicutarium. Our findings contribute to the growing knowledgebase of how road disturbances uniquely impact plant invasion patterns and herbivorous insects.
CEC Research Volume 5, Issue 2
Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center
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