Vegetation abundance data - Industrial disturbance impacts on boreal plants in Alberta : LIS lines in Swan Hills

We characterize the successional trajectory in the understory plant community three-, eight-, and thirteen-years after low-impact seismic (LIS) line construction through the consideration of both taxonomic and functional trait composition. Our research site is in an upland boreal forest in the Swan Hills region in northwestern Alberta.

Three years post-construction, we found phanerophyte shrubs, chamaephytes (mostly low shrubs), and bryophytes all declined drastically in cover. Over eight years, chamaephytes and bryophytes recovered to the levels similar to those in the adjacent forest. Herbaceous species, hemicryptophytes and geophytes, intially showed no declines in cover on seismic lines compared to the adjacent forest and, later, hemicryptophytes increased in cover.