Roadside floristic patterns and revegetation by using native plants in Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

Abstract

This thesis reports on a study of roadside floristic patterns and revegetation (cultural methods) of newly constructed roadsides by using native plants along Trans Canada Highway (TCH) in Terra Nova National Park (TNNP), Newfoundland. Recognizing the need for developing natural and self-sustained roadside vegetation cover to mitigate road effects, the first chapter of this thesis examines two aspects of the roadside floristic patterns: a) the nature of plant community composition across the roadside habitats with respect to microtopographic features, substrate properties and maintenance disturbances and b) the nature of above and below ground architectural characteristics and biomass allocation patterns of selected dominant plants across roadside microhabitats. The combined knowledge about floristic patterns and autecological attributes of roadside plants should help in selecting desirable native plants for roadside revegetation in order to mitigate road effects. The vegetation survey and soil sampling were conducted across the right-of-way along 10-15 years old section of the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) in Terra Nova National Park (TNNP), Newfoundland. The Multi-response Permutation Procedure (MRPP) confirmed the zonation of plant community across the right-of-way by distinguishing four plant communities occurring on four roadside microhabitats, such as shoulder, side slope, ditch and hack slope. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that the composition of roadside plant communities in different microhabitats was related to soil moisture content, bulk density, organic, matter depth and pH.