TITLE:
Monitoring River Restoration Efforts: Do Invasive Alien Plants Endanger the Success? A Case Study of the Traisen River
AUTHORS:
Katharina Lapin, Karl-Georg Bernhardt, Elisabeth Mayer, Stefanie Roithmayr, Joachim Neureiter, Claudia Horvath
KEYWORDS:
landscape management, Invasive alien plant species, vegetation, river restoration, succession, riparian area, seed bank
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.7 No.6,
May
12,
2016
ABSTRACT:
River
restoration activities are challenging for the native vegetation and the
colonization process. The development of invasive alien plant species (IAS) as
well as the development of the pioneer vegetation cover and seed bank were
observed in one year prior to construction of a new river bed and within the
first two years after construction, along the downstream section of the river
Traisen in Austria. One year after completion of the new river channel, the
occurrence of IAS above ground decreased while the occurrence of target species
increased. Furthermore, no seeds of IAS were detected in the new river bed as a
result of proper management of soil movement. Despite the positive impact on
the abundance of IAS, the restoration project of the river Traisen shows that
the fact that such a restoration activity is a disturbance event must be taken
into consideration already during the planning process. Supporting the
competitiveness of native plant species is an important tool for reducing the
danger of establishment of invasive alien species.