PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 6: Urban Ecology.
Monday, August 4 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.
Impact of urbanization and forest structure on non-native plant distribution: The West GA project.
Loewenstein, Nancy *,1, Burton, Michele 1, Samuelson, Lisa1, Chaney, Philip1, 1 Center for Forest Sustainability, Auburn, AL, USA
ABSTRACT- Major sources of non-native plant propagules are lawns and gardens. As urbanization expands into rural areas, an increase in non-native plants at the urban-rural interface is expected. A study looking at the influence of urbanization and forest structure on the distribution and invasiveness of non-native plants across an urban-to-rural gradient north of Columbus, GA was initiated in 2002. Plant sampling was conducted two times during the growing season within 20 watersheds across the gradient. Quadrats were randomly placed in each of three locations along a 500 m section of each stream: within the channel, immediately outside the stream bank, or along a short transect perpendicular to the stream. Also measured at each site were: soil structure, pH and nutrient levels, slope, aspect, distance to nearest road, light availability, leaf area index, overstory structure and composition, size of forest fragment and land use-land cover within the watershed. Initial results indicate that: 1) at least one non-native plant species was observed in every watershed, 2) the greatest number of non-native plant species occurred at the urban sites, 3) several invasive species (Ligustrum sinense, Lonicera japonica, Microstegium vimineum and Murdannia keisak) were wide-spread and occurred in the majority of the watersheds. The potential exists for the spread of additional non-native plants into the urban-rural interface, the success of which may impact or be impacted by forest structure.
Key words: invasive plants, urban-to-rural gradient, forest structure