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dc.contributor.authorBallantyne, Mark
dc.contributor.authorPickering, Catherine M
dc.contributor.authorMcDougall, Keith L
dc.contributor.authorWright, Genevieve T
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T15:40:24Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T15:40:24Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.identifier.issn0067-1924
dc.identifier.doi10.1071/BT14114
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/66919
dc.description.abstractDamage to vegetation from tourism and recreation includes the impacts of hiking trails, which may favour trampling-tolerant plants over those that are more sensitive to this type of disturbance. To assess how continued use of a hiking trail coupled with changes in local climate affect a rare Australian alpine plant community, we compared plant composition at different distances from a trail in 2013 during wetter conditions with that 10 years prior during a drought in 2003. In both years, only a few trampling-tolerant graminoids and cushion plants were found on the trail surface, which runs along the ridgeline. Species richness and cover in both surveys generally increased with distance from the trail, but there were differences between the windward and leeward sides of the trail. This included increased abundance of some species but continued disruption of shrub succession on the leeward side of the trail. There was an overall increase in species richness between the two surveys, and changes in the abundance of many species independent of trampling effects, possibly reflecting the more favourable/wetter conditions for plant growth in 2013. These results suggest that changes in climatic conditions can affect community composition, but that this has not negated the impact of the hiking trail on this rare community. With average temperatures increasing, and snow cover declining in the Australian Alps, it is likely that there will be even more changes in the Windswept Feldmark, including the potential colonisation of these ridges by more competitive species, such as graminoids, at the expense of the dominant shrub and some herbs that are already adversely affected by trampling. Longer term monitoring of this rare community is imperative to better understand community processes in relation to the impacts of trail use and climate change. Management options to reduce these impacts are discussed.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.format.extent904999 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherCSIRO
dc.publisher.placeAustralia
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationY
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom263
dc.relation.ispartofpageto275
dc.relation.ispartofissue4
dc.relation.ispartofjournalAustralian Journal of Botany
dc.relation.ispartofvolume62
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchConservation and biodiversity
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEcology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchMicrobiology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchPlant biology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode410401
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3103
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3107
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3108
dc.titleSustained impacts of a hiking trail on changing Windswept Feldmark vegetation in the Australian Alps
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.facultyGriffith Sciences, Griffith School of Environment
gro.rights.copyright© 2014 CSIRO. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
gro.date.issued2015-07-30T01:40:29Z
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorPickering, Catherine M.


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