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Stabilization of Motorway Slopes with Herbaceous Cover, Catalonia, Spain
Author(s) -
Andrés Pilar,
Zapater Valentí,
Pamplona Mertxe
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
restoration ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1526-100X
pISSN - 1061-2971
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-100x.1996.tb00107.x
Subject(s) - ruderal species , slates , revegetation , marl , herbaceous plant , vegetation (pathology) , environmental science , lawn , plant cover , mediterranean climate , ecological succession , geology , agronomy , ecology , canopy , biology , habitat , structural basin , geomorphology , medicine , geochemistry , pathology
Abstract We monitored several herbaceous species for revegetating motorway slopes in Catalonia, Spain, a Mediterranean country. Two main kinds of treatments were applied: hydroseeding on bare marl, chalk, and slates, and hydroseeding on embankments over gentler slopes, where soil materials previously removed were spread before hydroseeding. The greatest herbaceous cover was obtained by hydroseeding after soil replacement, and marl was the most suitable bare substratum for hydroseeding. Physical characteristics such as schistosily plane in slates and softness or surface irregularity in chalk determined the outcome of revegetation efforts. The most immediate stabilization of soils was obtained on southern exposures with autumnal applications. Grasses, markedly of the genera Lolium and Festuca , were dominant in the herbaceous cover at the end of the monitoring period. Natural invasive vegetation was composed of ruderal species, but no representatives of the adjacent forest or maquis community were found.