The Effects of Roads on Vegetation Keaton Averill Vegetation Ecology 2018 Keywords: Vegetation, Structure, Frequency, Roads, Point Quarter, Soil, Mean Distance, Absolute Basal Area, P-Value, Standard Error

Background Roads can often times result in fragmentation and loss of habitat species of an area. (Johnston and Johnston 2004) Road construction can be done with leaving a small impact on the environment afterwards. (Caliskan 2013) Roads make it more accessible for us to move to new locations of untouched land, which is great to some extent for researching and recreational purposes. But the construction of the roads themself have an effect on the local landscape, as the area becomes fragmented Other researchers have concluded that there is certainly a way to continue road construction at the same rate, but can also be more friendly to the environment

Problem Question of Interest: Does the construction of roads affect the structure of vegetation of a region? How do roads affect the overall quality of an ecosystem? Including ground vegetation and soils. Null Hypothesis: Constructing roads in new (subalpine) regions will not show significant changes in vegetation frequency and soil texture. Alternative Hypothesis: Constructing roads in new (subalpine) regions will show significant changes in vegetation frequency and soil texture. Predictions: Decrease in vegetation frequency Changes in soil composition This made me wonder: “what effect do the roads have on vegetation ecosystems?” I always wondered what all of these roads leading throughout the mountains were doing to the environment, especially to the vegetation I predicted that: it would decrease vegetation frequency and soil composition

Methods Three independent sites were tested Subalpine Region #1 Rainbow Lakes Brainard Lake Point Quarter, Daubenmire Plot, and Soil 2- Factor ANOVA Close/Far and Uphill/Downhill Mean Distance Absolute Basal Area How data was collected: I went to three different locations: 1. Referred to as Subalpine Region #1, was located just past the gates leading to some of the first research we performed on the way up to the subalpine regions 2. I went to the Rainbow Lakes area located off the left side of the fork as you drive up to the MRS 3. The last location was at the Rocky Mountain National Park near Brainard Lake. NE direction of the lake. 3 methods used PTQ, Duab, and soil samples (mainly checking for texture) Describe methods on screen SLIGHTLY ROCKY DIRT ROADS 25m each way→ # random generator for daub/PTQ (twice between 0-12 & 12-25), then took the soil sample from # that was closest to the road Then reviewed my data to uncover important variables that were used in a 2- factor ANOVA sequence: Close/far & Up/Down Absolute Basal Area (averaged) Mean Distance (averaged)

Methods Extra pictures from the study

Average Absolute Basal Area p= about 0.4855 → 2-Factor ANOVA p= about 0.3217 → 2-Factor ANOVA ABSOLUTE BASAL AREA: The data turned out insignificant after running the data I collected. Standard error bars overlap, which confirms the insignificance C/F p-value: about 0.4855 SE: 6.37540334/ 7.8158797 (average is just over 7) Up/Down p value: about 0.3217 SE: 6.59439324/ 7.25507897 (average is just below 7) C/F graph represents: The far (12-25m) basal area was of higher value compared to the close (0-12) Really means that as you move further into the forest, trees became thicker and heavier in mass (essentially just a higher DBH value) Up/Down graph represents: The Downhill Basal area was of higher value compared to the uphill. Larger trees were found on the downhill slopes

Average Mean Distance p= about 0.6746 → 2-Factor ANOVA The data turned out insignificant after running the data I collected. Standard error bars overlap, which confirms the insignificance C/F p value: about 0.6746 SE: 286.138748/ 123.330836 (average is about 205) Up/Down p value: about 0.1224 SE: 57.2784145/ 265.340976 C/F graph represents that in the (0-12m) areas, the trees were spread more far apart than in the (12-25m) areas Up/Down graph represents that the uphill slopes had less distance between the trees compared to the downhill slope

Soil Results Uphill slopes → Sandy Loam Downhill slopes→ Silty Clay Loam Why the trend? Saw great consistency with soil textures with the up/down slopes Sandy Loam: Not the best soil for vegetation growth. Loses nutrient easily, but the loam element helps retain some of it. Silty Clay Loam: A really good, rich soil that is firm but can also absorb and retain nutrients The trend could come from confounding factors such as rainfall, winds. Ultimately lead to wind/rain erosion (Marzen et al. 2017) Moving nutrients around, down with gravity, making the downhill slopes more favorable Also eroding the Uphill by making it looser soil, more sandy.

Discussion Hypothesis: Constructing roads in new (subalpine) regions, may lead to changes in vegetation frequency and soil texture. Predictions: Decrease in vegetation frequency Change in soil composition My results do not support my hypothesis From my results section, it is understood that the differences in mean distance and basal area (averages) My high p-values support claim/ along with the Standard Error

Conclusion Results from the research are inconclusive Does not mean that there won’t be a significant change in vegetation structure with the presence of roads. Further research would improve the quality of the study. Before & After More samples and locations Inconclusive because of the quantity of data, would need more samples and sites to determine an effective conclusion Further research Before and after analysis of the road placement would be crucial to observe more effects of vegetation and soils More samples/ locations would improve the data.

Cites Johnston, F and S, Johnston. 2004. Impacts of Road Disturbance on Soil Properties and on Exotic Plant Occurrence in Subalpine Areas of the Australian Alps. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 36(2):201-207. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1657/1523-0430%282004%29036%5B0201%3AIORDOS%5D2.0.CO%3B2 Caliskan, E. 2013. Environmental impacts of forest road construction on mountainous terrain. Iranian Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering 10(1):23. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3627898/ Marzen, M, Thomas Ishloh, Joao L.M.P. del Lima, Wolfgang Fister and Johannes B. Ries. 2017. Impact of severe rain storms on soil erosion: Experimental evaluation of wind-driven rain and its implications for natural hazard management. Science the Total Environment 590-591:502- 513. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717304461 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3627898/ (pic)