Plant invasions along roads: a case study from central highlands, India

Abstract

Road sides provide suitable conditions for the establishment and growth of non-native species. The phenomenon of non-native species spread through roads has further increased due to rapid anthropogenic developments. Here we intend to investigate the status of native and nonnative species and how the species richness and diversity change in a perpendicular road transect across the three different road use types in the central highlands of India. Presence of 55 nonnative species was recorded, of the total 71 species along the road sides. Non-native species richness significantly increased with increasing road use type. Although, the species diversity significantly decreased from road verges to the forest interior in all the road use types. Indicating the role of non-native propagule spread through the roads into the interior forest landscapes. The study gives a management implication, to restrict the non-native species spread from the road sides to the forest interior, irrespective of road use types.Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biolog