Erfanian Mohammad Bagher, Ejtehadi Hamid, Vaezi Jamil, Moazzeni Hamid, Memariani Farshid, Firouz-Jahantigh Mohammad
Department of Biology, Quantitative Plant Ecology and Biodiversity Research Lab Faculty of Science Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad Iran.
Department of Botany, Research Center for Plant Sciences Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad Iran.
Ecol Evol. 2019 Jun 19;9(14):8193-8200. doi: 10.1002/ece3.5388. eCollection 2019 Jul.
It is well-known that pistes have adverse effects on alpine ecosystems. Previous studies urged that pistes should be installed and managed in the ways to minimize negative impacts on natural habitats. However, the impacts of this type of management on the plant communities are not widely studied. The aim of this study was to examine species composition and biodiversity changes in an environmentally friendly managed piste in northeast Iran. This piste has been established in a previously degraded alpine landscape. For the vegetation survey, we sampled 44 within and 28 off-piste plots. Except for the piste management, other environmental factors were similar between the piste and off-piste plots. Dominant species were determined, and variation in community composition of the two areas was visualized. Also, native species, phylogenetic, and functional Hill diversity of the two areas were compared. The results showed that there was a moderate differentiation in the species composition of the piste and off-piste. Two palatable species (i.e., and ) were dominant in the piste and were not recorded in the off-piste. The diversity calculations results showed that the species diversity of the piste was higher than that of the off-piste. Phylogenetic diversity at the level of frequent and dominant plants showed a similar result. The piste had a higher functional diversity in terms of functional richness, and functional diversity of frequent and dominant plants. Our findings imply, after 10 years, species, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of the piste is significantly improved. Environmentally friendly piste management (EFPM) induced species composition change that led to emerging species that were absent in the off-piste. We can conclude that EFPM led to restoration of a degraded landscape. Long-term impacts of EFPM are still unknown, therefore, caution should be undertaken regarding the installation of new environmentally friendly pistes in other areas.
众所周知，滑雪道对高山生态系统有不利影响。先前的研究敦促应以尽量减少对自然栖息地负面影响的方式来建设和管理滑雪道。然而，这种管理方式对植物群落的影响尚未得到广泛研究。本研究的目的是调查伊朗东北部一条采用环境友好型管理的滑雪道上的物种组成和生物多样性变化。这条滑雪道建于先前退化的高山景观中。为进行植被调查，我们在滑雪道内采样了44个样地，在滑雪道外采样了28个样地。除了滑雪道管理外，滑雪道内和滑雪道外样地的其他环境因素相似。确定了优势物种，并直观呈现了两个区域群落组成的差异。此外，还比较了两个区域的本地物种、系统发育和功能希尔多样性。结果表明，滑雪道内和滑雪道外的物种组成存在适度差异。两种可口物种（即 和 ）在滑雪道内占主导地位，在滑雪道外未被记录到。多样性计算结果表明，滑雪道内的物种多样性高于滑雪道外。常见和优势植物水平的系统发育多样性也显示出类似结果。就功能丰富度以及常见和优势植物的功能多样性而言，滑雪道内具有更高的功能多样性。我们的研究结果表明,10年后，滑雪道的物种、系统发育和功能多样性得到了显著改善。环境友好型滑雪道管理（EFPM）导致了物种组成的变化，从而出现了滑雪道外不存在的物种。我们可以得出结论，EFPM导致了退化景观的恢复。EFPM的长期影响仍然未知，因此，在其他地区安装新的环境友好型滑雪道时应谨慎行事。
