Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland.
J Environ Manage. 2010 Sep;91(9):1811-20. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.04.003.
We investigated the effects of human trampling on boreal forest understory vegetation on, and off paths from suburban forest edges towards the interiors and on the likelihood of trampling-aided dispersal into the forests for three years by carrying out a trampling experiment. We showed that the vegetation was highly sensitive to trampling. Even low levels of trampling considerably decreased covers of the most abundant species on the paths. Cover decreased between 10 and 30% on paths which had been trampled 35 times, and at least by 50% on those trampled 70-270 times. On-path vegetation cover decreased similarly at forest edges and in the interiors. However, some open habitat plant species that occurred outside the forest patches and at forest edges dispersed into the forests, possibly through the action of trampling. A higher cover percentage of an open habitat species at the forest edge line increased its probability to disperse into the forest interior. The vegetation community on, next to, and away from lightly trampled paths remained the same throughout the trampling experiment. For heavily trampled paths, the community changed drastically on the paths, but stayed relatively similar next to and away from the paths. As boreal vegetation is highly sensitive to the effects of trampling, overall ease of access throughout the forest floor should be restricted to avoid the excessive creation of spontaneous paths. To minimize the effects of trampling, recreational use could be guided to the maintained path network in heavily used areas.
我们通过践踏实验，调查了人类在郊区森林边缘的小径上和小径周围踩踏对北方森林林下植被的影响，以及这些踩踏是否有助于物种进入森林的扩散。结果表明，植被对踩踏非常敏感。即使是低水平的踩踏，也会极大地减少路径上最丰富物种的覆盖率。在被踩踏 35 次的路径上，覆盖度下降了 10%至 30%，而在被踩踏 70-270 次的路径上，覆盖度至少下降了 50%。在森林边缘和森林内部，路径上的植被覆盖度下降情况类似。然而，一些在森林斑块外和森林边缘出现的开阔生境植物物种可能通过踩踏的作用而扩散到森林中。在森林边缘线上，开阔生境物种的覆盖百分比越高，其向森林内部扩散的可能性就越大。在整个践踏实验过程中，轻度践踏路径上、旁边和远离路径的植被群落保持不变。对于重度践踏的路径，路径上的群落发生了巨大变化，但在路径旁边和远离路径的地方仍然相对相似。由于北方植被对踩踏的影响非常敏感，因此应该限制整个森林地面的通行便利性，以避免自发小径的过度形成。为了最小化踩踏的影响，可以引导在使用频繁的区域使用维护好的路径网络。
