The effect of informal tourist trails on the abiotic conditions and floristic composition of deciduous forest undergrowth in an urban area

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the effect of informal tourist trails on the abiotic conditions and floristic composition of deciduous forest undergrowth in an urban area. The study was carried out in the Wolski Forest in Kraków (Poland) in 2020 using a total of 400 plots (1 m × 1m) situated in close (CL) and further (FU) vicinity of informal (<50 cm in width) and formal (≥150 cm in width) tourist trails in the forest interior and forest edge sites.Agreater content of N-NH4, P, and K occurred in the forest interior sites, while greater light intensity, species number, total plant cover, and stem height were found in the forest edge sites. Greater light intensity and a higher percentage of total and damaged plant cover were recorded in CLplots, while a greater height of plants was seen in FUplots. The number of species was higher in plots located along informal trails than in plots along formal trails. The dominance of therophytes and autochorous species along informal trails in the forest interior sites might be a result of successful diaspore dispersal by people walking, while the substantial share of zoochorous species along formal trails suggests their dissemination by dogs accompanying visitors. The dominance of forest and ruderal taxa in the forest interior sites suggests unfavourable conditions for the germination of meadow and grassland species. The higher cover-abundance of alien plants in CL plots along informal trails and FU plots along formal traits suggests that alien plants growing near the formal trails are more exposed to mechanical damage.