Volume 62, January 01, 2015, Pages 40-44
a
Department of Ecology, Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz Str. 46, Kraków, Poland
b Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego Str. 71C, Poznań, Poland
b Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego Str. 71C, Poznań, Poland
Abstract
Electricity pylons
are used by birds for nesting platforms, song posts, roosting, perching
and therefore as defecation sites. Consequently we predict that pylons
may facilitate the dispersal of endozoochorous plants, such as black
cherry Prunus serotina,
an invasive species in Europe producing fruits that are often eaten by
birds. To test the influence of electricity pylons on the abundance of
P.serotina in farmland in
western Poland we surveyed 124 areas under pylons and 124 paired control
plots within fields under power lines. P.serotina occurred under 81.5% of the investigated pylons but only in 2.4% of the control plots. The vast majority of P.serotina
plants occurred under pylons (99.9% of 5820 individuals) of which only
0.7% (42 individuals), found under 12 pylons, were fruiting. The few
plants in control plots were all seedlings. The density of plants was
related to landscape variables; the occurrence of P.serotina
was higher when pylons were situated within arable crops, had a lower
level of herb cover and were closer to human settlements. These results
suggest that one approach to protect semi natural or even anthropogenic
landscapes from exotic and invasive species is by encouraging permanent
land use involving some form of annual disturbance, such as hay cutting
or ploughing. © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS.
Author keywords
Dispersal foci; Electricity pylons; Endozoochory; Farmland; Prunus serotina
Indexed keywords
Species Index: Prunus serotina; Aves
GEOBASE Subject Index: agricultural land; biological
invasion; dispersal; disturbance; fruit; intensive agriculture; invasive
species; land use change; zoochory
Regional Index: Poland
