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Respuestas de la vegetación a lo largo de gradientes de borde‐hacia‐el interior de bosques latifoliados mixtos de la cuenca del río Roanoke, en Carolina del Norte
Author(s) -
Fraver Shawn
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1994.08030822.x
Subject(s) - transect , species richness , ordination , geography , hardwood , vegetation (pathology) , belt transect , structural basin , ecology , environmental science , forestry , geology , biology , geomorphology , medicine , pathology
Compared with forest interiors, forest edges typically have a different plant species composition and community structure, a phenomenon known as “edge effect.” Edge effects make the functional interior area of a forest smaller than its actual area. The objective of this study was to estimate how far the effects of agriculturally maintained edges penetrate the mixed hardwood forests of the Roanoke River Basin, North Carolina. I determined percentage cover for all vascular plant species in 10‐by‐100‐meter belt transects on north‐facing or south‐facing edges of four relatively undisturbed forests. Changes in the percentage cover of individual species, the relative cover of exotic species, and species richness all indicated that edge effects penetrate deeper on south‐facing edges (to 60 meters) than on north‐facing edges (to 20 meters). Analyses of species responses to the edge showed a number of species to be edge oriented, but no species was found to be interior oriented. The results of multivariate analyses (ordination and cluster analysis) suggested that edge effects could be detected to 50 meters on south‐facing edges and 10–30 meters on north‐facing edges. These results allow us to better understand the difference between a forest’s actual area and its functional interior area.