Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Ecol Appl. 2009 Dec;19(8):2242-53. doi: 10.1890/08-0719.1.
In mountain regions around the world, downhill ski areas represent a significant source of anthropogenic disturbance while also providing recreation and revenue. Ski-run creation always results in some level of disturbance, but disturbance intensity varies greatly with construction method. Ski runs may be established either by clearing (cutting and removing tall vegetation) or by clearing and then machine-grading (leveling the soil surface with heavy equipment). To quantify how these different intensities of initial disturbance affect ecosystem properties, we extensively surveyed vegetation, soils, and environmental characteristics on cleared ski runs, graded ski runs, and adjacent reference forests across seven large downhill ski resorts in the northern Sierra Nevada, USA. We found that the greater disturbance intensity associated with grading resulted in greater impacts on all ecosystem properties considered, including plant community composition and diversity, soil characteristics relating to processes of nutrient cycling and retention, and measures of erosion potential. We also found that cleared ski runs retained many ecological similarities to reference forests and might even offer some added benefits by possessing greater plant species and functional diversity than either forests or graded runs. Because grading is more damaging to multiple indicators of ecosystem function, clearing rather than grading should be used to create ski slopes wherever practical.
在世界各地的山区，下坡滑雪区是人为干扰的重要来源，同时也提供了娱乐和收入。滑雪道的建设总会造成一定程度的干扰，但干扰强度因施工方法的不同而有很大差异。滑雪道可以通过清理（砍伐和移除高大的植被）或清理后机械平整（用重型设备平整土壤表面）来建立。为了量化这些不同初始干扰强度如何影响生态系统特性，我们在美国内华达山脉北部的七个大型下坡滑雪胜地，广泛调查了清理过的滑雪道、平整过的滑雪道和相邻的参考森林的植被、土壤和环境特征。我们发现，与清理相比，与平整相关的更大干扰强度对所有考虑的生态系统特性都有更大的影响，包括植物群落组成和多样性、与养分循环和保持过程有关的土壤特性，以及侵蚀潜力的衡量标准。我们还发现，清理过的滑雪道与参考森林保持了许多生态相似性，甚至可能通过拥有比森林或平整过的滑雪道更多的植物物种和功能多样性而提供一些额外的好处。由于平整对多个生态系统功能指标的破坏更大，因此只要实际可行，应选择清理而不是平整来建造滑雪道。
