Recreational trails are an important cause of fragmentation in endangered urban forests: A case-study from Australia

Recreational trails as a source of negative impacts on the persistence of keystone species and facilitation

“…As a result vegetation and soils adjacent to trails often differs from that further away with more ruderal species and often reduced soil quality close to the trail (Bhuju and Ohsawa, 1998;Dickens et al, 2005;Malmivaara-L€ ams€ a et al, 2008). Due to the often high spatial proliferation of trails, these effects can replicate across entire landscapes causing cumulative damage Ballantyne et al, 2014b). Changes in plant composition caused by trails reflect not only the responses of individual species to disturbance but also how trails alter ecological processes.…”

Recreational trampling negatively impacts vegetation structure of an Australian biodiversity hotspot

“…Genus present and dominant at study sites Plant characteristics Table 3 Recommendations for additional management attention in regard to increasing wildflower tourism in biodiversity hotspots Management strategy Additional information Educational programs for tour operators that convey messages about the effects of trampling and the low resilience and resistance of these highly valued plant communities Boon et al (2008), Cole et al (1997), Littlefair (2004), Parks and Wildlife (2015) The installation of interpretive panels at tourism activity nodes that highlight the sensitivity of the vegetation and provide information about the consequences of trampling on vegetation and species of tourism interest Boon et al (2008), Cole et al (1997), Marion and Reid (2007), Newsome et al (2013) Effective trail signage to minimize visitor movement off formal trails and the potential creation of informal trails Marion and Leung (2004), Newsome et al (2013) Provision of boardwalks that allow for discovery and seclusion opportunities while minimising the movement off formal trails by visitors , Newsome et al (2013) Creation and design of new trails and/or upgrading existing trails Mende and Newsome (2006), Leung (2004, 2011), Marion and Reid (2007), , Ongoing monitoring with a view to closing some sites so that there is scope for the recovery of sites damaged by trampling Leung et al (2011), Monz et al (2010a,b), Newsome et al (2013), Walden-Schreiner et al (2012) Where appropriate placing physical barriers to minimise the movement off formal trails Barros et al (2013), Kim and Daigle (2012), Roovers et al (2004) Further research in shrub-dominated communities in other biodiversity hotspots to build knowledge regarding the resilience and resistance of these communities to trampling and other impacts associated with tourism Ballantyne et al (2014), Newsome et al (2013) …”

Trail impact monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

“…Moore et al (2012) stated that unmaintained trail impacts are negatively perceived by visitors and have an overall adverse effect on visitor experiences, providing support for proper trail design and maintenance. Ballantyne et al (2014) recommended that management should seek to minimize the creation of informal trails by hardening popular routes and centralizing visitor flow. Different walking track types can have an effect on different vegetation characteristics (Hill and Pickering, 2006).…”

“…Our experiences confirmed time consumption so there will be fair discussion about practicality to repeat these measurements as a part of a potential monitoring program. A combination with GIS-based methodologies could be a more effective tool (Hawes et al, 2013;Ballantyne et al, 2014;Ólafsdóttir and Runnström, 2013) to examine the relationship between trail condition assessment and local physical properties, such as elevation, gradient, soil type and vegetation cover. For further trail monitoring, a recommendation to consider is the possibility of increasing precision of measurements (submeter accuracy GPS units, smaller intervals for measurements between sampling points of 30 m; this will increase time capacity).…”