Results
We found Melilotus at many points along the highways that we surveyed (Figure 1), with roadsides in the Fairbanks area most consistently colonized. Notably, little or no Melilotus was found along several major highways, including the Taylor Highway, the Denali Highway, and the McCarthy Road. In addition, we found Melilotus on the roadside immediately adjacent to 64 major crossings (Figure 2).
Of the total of 192 major crossings surveyed, 17 had Melilotus growing on a natural floodplain surface (Figure 3). Most of these were light infestations, but four crossings had moderate to heavy infestations on the floodplain surface. All 13 of these crossings also had Melilotus growing on the roadside immediately adjacent to the bridge.
Though we found Melilotus growing on floodplain surfaces immediately upstream of several crossings, we do not interpret this to mean that this species is spreading upstream. Instead, all cases where Melilotus was found upstream involved heavily colonized individual rivers with multiple road crossings. In these cases, Melilotus had spread all along the river from sources upstream of all the surveyed crossings.
- Network Model : The network model is a work in progress.
- Example : Of the 10 major crossings we surveyed leading to Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge, none had Melilotus on a natural floodplain surface either upstream or downstream of the crossing (Figure on the right, Table 1).
Encyclopedia ID: p3710
