Quantitative Plant Ecology and Biodiversity Research Lab., Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, PO BOX 9177948974, Mashhad, Iran.
Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Sci Rep. 2021 Oct 4;11(1):19695. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-99261-5.
Recreational activities worldwide have major impacts on the environment. This study examined the impact of different kinds of recreational activities on plant communities in a highly visited park in Mashhad, Iran. Vegetation in the park was sampled along 41 random 10-m transects with different human disturbances (trails, dirt roads, campsites) and undisturbed communities. Life form spectrum, species composition, species and phylogenetic diversity were determined for all communities. Disturbance increased the frequency of therophytes, but decreased the frequency of chamaephytes and percentage vegetated area. Recreational-mediated disturbance had variable impact on species composition, but decreased species and phylogenetic diversity compared with undisturbed areas. Roads and campsites caused the greatest damage, while trails had the smallest negative impact on vegetation. This study showed that damage to (semi-)natural park vegetation differs with recreation activity. This finding can help prioritise management activities to minimise negative impacts of recreation activities on local vegetation. The current visitor load to the urban park studied here appears too high to be sustainable over time, so better monitoring and restrictions on visitor numbers may be needed to minimise the negative impacts on park vegetation. The camping impacts can be managed by creating clusters of designated campsites to spatially concentrate the impact area. Low-impact practices should be communicated to visitors.
全球的娱乐活动对环境有重大影响。本研究考察了不同类型的娱乐活动对伊朗马什哈德一个高访问量公园植物群落的影响。公园内的植被沿着 41 条随机的 10 米样带进行采样，这些样带具有不同的人为干扰（步道、土路、露营地）和未受干扰的群落。对所有群落确定了生活型谱、物种组成、物种和系统发育多样性。干扰增加了一年生植物的频率，但降低了一年生植物和植被面积的百分比。与未受干扰的区域相比，娱乐介导的干扰对物种组成有不同的影响，但降低了物种和系统发育多样性。道路和露营地造成的破坏最大，而步道对植被的负面影响最小。本研究表明，（半）自然公园植被的破坏因娱乐活动而异。这一发现可以帮助确定管理活动的优先级，以尽量减少娱乐活动对当地植被的负面影响。研究中城市公园目前的游客量似乎过高，无法长期持续，因此可能需要更好的监测和限制游客数量，以尽量减少对公园植被的负面影响。通过创建指定露营地的集群，可以管理露营的影响，从而将影响区域集中在空间上。应该向游客传达低影响的实践方法。
