Recreational Changes in the Forest Ecosystem Components: Case Study of the Cultural Heritage Site “White Sea Petroglyphs” (Republic of Karelia)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2020-5-90-105

Keywords:

recreational pressure, trampling, soil, forest litter, living ground cover, flora, tree stand, digression, fine roots, root occupation

Abstract

Recreation digression of forest ecosystems in the heritage site “White Sea Petroglyphs” was studied for the first time. This site is a compact system of rock outcrops partially cleared of forest vegetation, which bear Neolithic rock carvings (petroglyphs), and are linked together by walking trails. Patterns have been identified in the transformation of soils, plant cover components (tree stand, tree seedlings, understory and living ground cover), as well as fine roots (within 3 mm in diameter) of woody species under the recreation impact. Trampling was found to deform and destroy the top soil horizons, entailing a significant loss of the forest floor thickness and organic matter stores. Overall, the flora of the area is quite well preserved; 95–100 % of which is represented by native species. The living ground cover is noticeably damaged in the most actively used sites (fragments of trails and vista points). They feature a poor species composition, shrinking of the herb-dwarf shrub and moss-lichen cover, and a low percent cover of grassland and ruderal species. Easily accessible and actively visited sites have no or reducing amounts of tree seedlings, the tree stand is damaged and forest regeneration is hampered – the number of viable seedlings is minimal (100 pcs/ha). The mass of roots below 3 mm in diameter in heavily trampled trails showed a reduction of up to 74 %, while the root saturation in less affected trails slightly increased. Recreation transformations of the plant communities have not resulted in a loss of their resilience so far. The recreational digression in the studied sites was classified into stages I–III (weakly disturbed – strongly disturbed). Function zoning of the area should be modified using recreation-tolerant communities more intensively in order to reduce recreation impact. The most damaged areas, which are losing their stability, should be excluded from active use by modification of walking trails and building additional boardwalks.
For citation: Tuyunen A.V., Timofeeva V.V., Karpechko A.Yu., Tkachenko Y.N., Karpin V.A., Petrov N.V. Recreational Changes in the Forest Ecosystem Components: Case Study of the Cultural Heritage Site “White Sea Petroglyphs” (Republic of Karelia). Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2020, no. 5, pp. 90–105. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2020-5-90-105
Funding: The research was financially supported from the federal budget for the fulfillment of the state assignment of the Forest Research Institute, KarRC RAS. Acknowledgments: We gratefully acknowledge M.A. Boychuk (Institute of Biology, KarRC RAS) for identification (verification) of moss samples.

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Author Biographies

А. В. Туюнен, Forest Research Institute of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Junior Research Scientist; ResearcherID: C-6958-2013

В. В. Тимофеева, Forest Research Institute of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Candidate of Biology, Research Scientist

А. Ю. Карпечко, Forest Research Institute of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Candidate of Agriculture, Research Scientist; ResearcherID: AAL-8675-2020

Ю. Н. Ткаченко, Forest Research Institute of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Leading Soil Scientist

В. А. Карпин, Forest Research Institute of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Junior Research Scientist; ResearcherID: AAT-1801-2020

Н. В. Петров, Candidate of Agriculture, Junior Research Scientist

Forest Research Institute of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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Published

2020-11-10

How to Cite

Туюнен, А. В., В. В. Тимофеева, А. Ю. Карпечко, Ю. Н. Ткаченко, В. А. Карпин, and Н. В. Петров. “Recreational Changes in the Forest Ecosystem Components: Case Study of the Cultural Heritage Site ‘White Sea Petroglyphs’ (Republic of Karelia)”. Lesnoy Zhurnal (Forestry Journal), no. 5, Nov. 2020, pp. 90-105, doi:10.37482/0536-1036-2020-5-90-105.