Road verges represent new habitats providing an opportunity for enhancing biodiversity in human-altered landscapes. However, it is common practice to plant trees or sow species-poor seed mixtures regardless of their geographical origin. We assessed the effectiveness of spontaneous restoration to fulfil the requirements for both functions, the formation of vegetation cover to prevent erosion and native species-rich vegetation, which may provide conservation benefits. We sampled 113 vegetation plots on road verges in the Czech Republic, central Europe. The sampling plots were 25 m² in size and differed in age (1–42 years). We recorded surrounding landscape (land-cover categories, landscape heterogeneity, and length of roads and railways in a 1-km radius zone) and site factors (altitude, substrate texture, slope, aspect, and potential solar radiation) and analysed the data using multivariate methods. Species composition was significantly explained by successional age, altitude, substrate texture, and surrounding forest area. The total herb cover reached on average 30% already in the first 2 years, and later shrub and tree layers developed. Out of 320 identified vascular plant species, almost 5% (15 species) were endangered and 6% (19 species) were invasive aliens. Early successional stages were characterised by a high cover of insect-pollinated species, which can serve as important food sources for insects. Despite some limitations (poor seed sources and inconvenient site conditions), our results showed that spontaneous succession could be used more often in the restoration of road verges because this approach may provide an alternative, cost-effective solution of reasonable conservation value.

中文翻译：

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在道路边缘自发演替-一种省力的有效方法

道路边缘代表着新的栖息地，为增强人类改变的景观中的生物多样性提供了机会。但是，通常的做法是种植树木或播种贫瘠的种子混合物，无论其地理来源如何。我们评估了自发恢复的有效性，以满足两种功能的要求，即防止侵蚀的植被覆盖和原生物种丰富的植被，这可以提供保护效益。我们在中欧捷克共和国的道路边缘采样了113个植被地块。采样区为25 m ²大小和年龄（1-42岁）不同。我们记录了周围的景观（土地覆盖类别，景观异质性以及半径为1公里的区域中的公路和铁路的长度）和站点因子（海拔，基材质地，坡度，纵横比和潜在的太阳辐射），并使用多元方法。物种组成由演替年龄，海拔高度，基质质地和周围的森林面积显着解释。在最初的两年中，草本植物的总覆盖率已平均达到30％，后来灌木和乔木层逐渐形成。在320种已识别的维管植物物种中，近5％（15种）濒临灭绝，而6％（19种）则为外来入侵物种。演替初期的特征是昆虫授粉物种的覆盖率高，可以作为昆虫的重要食物来源。