Trampling as a major ecological factor affecting the radial growth and wood anatomy of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) roots on a hiking trail

Altered growth with blue rings: comparison of radial growth and wood anatomy between trampled and non-trampled Scots pine roots

“…Root orientation, aeration, light availability, and soil moisture and temperature have important influences on root growth. In addition, root growth is known to be affected by insect defoliation (Krause and Morin, 2005), biomechanical weathering of rocks (Malik et al, 2019), gully and sheet erosion (Vandekerckhove et al, 2001;Hitz et al, 2008;Malik, 2008b;Lopez Saez et al, 2011;Morawska, 2012), windthrows (Nicoll and Ray, 1996;Danjon et al, 2005;Montagnoli et al, 2019b) and trampling (Bodoque et al, 2005;Pelfini and Santili, 2006;Rubiales et al, 2008;Matulewski et al, 2021).…”

“…Our current understanding of radial growth patterns and wood anatomical irregularities in roots remains incomplete (Wrońska-Wałach et al, 2016;Matulewski et al, 2021). The mechanism responsible for growth irregularities in tree roots remains largely unknown (Montagnoli et al, 2019b).…”

“…These roots were selected because of their unique, i.e. parallel position, from a bigger set of samples (204 roots from 97 trees) analysed for the common period 1970-2015 (Matulewski et al, 2021). The first root was naturally buried in the soil and was not exposed on the hiking trail, whereas the second root was partially exposed on the same hiking trail and was directly subjected to trampling.…”

“…The tourist season in the study area usually lasts 140 days, i.e., from May to mid-September. The average tourist load is up to 10,000 hikers per summer season, peaking from June to August (Matulewski, 2018).…”

Managing Tourism and Environment—Trail Erosion, Thresholds of Potential Concern and Limits of Acceptable Change

“…Some walking trails are formally constructed while others are informal lines of movement where people create a direct route to a desired destination or seek to avoid uncomfortable or dangerous surfaces such as ponded water or eroded or stony ground [11][12][13]. Both formal and informal trails can have undesirable biophysical outcomes, including the direct effects of habitat-fragmenting 'corridor' creation, compaction of loamy soils, churning of sandy soils, wind and water erosion and trampling of vegetation in addition to the indirect effects of littering and its accompanying negative aesthetics and chemical pollutants, as well as visitor noise causing disturbance to birds and animals [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The overall effect of visitation may endanger the ecological functioning of the protected area; thus, considerable attention has been given to trail management, especially trail erosion in protected areas having high visitor numbers and minimal interventions in terms of constructed walkways or conservation measures (e.g., [21][22][23][24][25][26]).…”