Impacts after four years of experimental trampling on alpine/sub-alpine environments in western Tasmania

Whinam, Jennie; Chilcott, N

doi:10.1016/s0301-4797(02)00218-9

Cited by 73 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Australian studies have centered on trampling in mountain, subtropical and tropical areas (Whinam and Chilcott 1999;Talbot et al 2003;Whinam and Chilcott 2003;Hill and Pickering 2009;Pickering and Growcock 2009). Kelly et al (2003) considered the direct and indirect effects of tourism on 72 plant taxa in Australia by reviewing literature and reports by government agencies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Liddle (1997) and other researchers have demonstrated that different vegetation communities respond to trampling according to differing environmental conditions, plant functional traits and varying types of user and use intensities (Liddle 1975(Liddle , 1997Cole 1985;Pickering et al 2010;Bernhardt-Romermann et al 2011;Monz et al 2013;Prescott and Stewart 2014). The available evidence points to shrubs with sclerophyllous tissues being one of the most susceptible plant communities to trampling damage (for example see, Sun and Liddle 1993a;Liddle 1997;Newsome et al 2002;Whinam and Chilcott 2003;Pickering and Hill 2007;Bernhardt-Romermann et al 2011). Data on resistance (plant response to damage) and resilience (recovery of vegetation from disturbance) is especially lacking for sclerophyllous shrub-dominated plant communities in Australia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, there is an urgent need to add information on the effects of recreation and tourism on such plant communities (Kelly et al 2003;Whinam and Chilcott 2003;Pickering et al 2010) to the global store of knowledge on biodiversity hotspots. Accordingly, the objectives of this paper are threefold: (1) to provide observational data on the visitors to these national parks; (2) conduct descriptive studies at these parks on the trampling impact of visitors during the wildflower season; and (3) conduct controlled trampling experiments at these parks and report on the response of vegetation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Recreational trampling negatively impacts vegetation structure of an Australian biodiversity hotspot

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Recreational trampling negatively impacts vegetation structure of an Australian biodiversity hotspot

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The latter were used as controls ( Figure 3). Vegetation sampling was designed according to Kutiel et al (1999), Leung & Marion (2000) and Whinam & Chilcott (2003). Species richness (#) or the average number of species in each plot, vegetation height (cm) or average height of plants (cm) found in each plot and vegetation cover (%) based on a visual assessment of plant condition in the ground cover in each plot were collected at each plot.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plant morphology is one possible determinant of resistant and resilience to the impacts (Whinam & Chilcott, 2003). Soil compaction due to high visitor use along trails leads to diminishing vegetation cover and deteriorating appearance, but on the other hand it creates a durable surface for walkers and diminishes the propensity to create ancillary trails.…”

Section: Trailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trail Impact Management Related to Vegetation Response in Termessos National Park, in Turkish Mediterranean

Atik¹,

Sayan²,

Karagüzel³

et al. 2012

Perspectives on Nature Conservation - Patterns, Pressures and Prospects

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Local trampling disturbance effects on alpine plant populations and communities: Negative implications for climate change vulnerability

Chardon

Wipf

Rixen

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global change is modifying species communities from local to landscape scales, with alterations in the abiotic and biotic determinants of geographic range limits causing species range shifts along both latitudinal and elevational gradients. An important but often overlooked component of global change is the effect of anthropogenic disturbance, and how it interacts with the effects of climate to affect both species and communities, as well as interspecies interactions, such as facilitation and competition. We examined the effects of frequent human trampling disturbances on alpine plant communities in Switzerland, focusing on the elevational range of the widely distributed cushion plant Silene acaulis and the interactions of this facilitator species with other plants. Examining size distributions and densities, we found that disturbance appears to favor individual Silene growth at middle elevations. However, it has negative effects at the population level, as evidenced by a reduction in population density and reproductive indices. Disturbance synergistically interacts with the effects of elevation to reduce species richness at low and high elevations, an effect not mitigated by Silene. In fact, we find predominantly competitive interactions, both by Silene on its hosted and neighboring species and by neighboring (but not hosted) species on Silene. Our results indicate that disturbance can be beneficial for Silene individual performance, potentially through changes in its neighboring species community. However, possible reduced recruitment in disturbed areas could eventually lead to population declines. While other studies have shown that light to moderate disturbances can maintain high species diversity, our results emphasize that heavier disturbance reduces species richness, diversity, as well as percent cover, and adversely affects cushion plants and that these effects are not substantially reduced by plant–plant interactions. Heavily disturbed alpine systems could therefore be at greater risk for upward encroachment of lower elevation species in a warming world.

show abstract

Impacts after four years of experimental trampling on alpine/sub-alpine environments in western Tasmania

Cited by 73 publications

References 28 publications

Recreational trampling negatively impacts vegetation structure of an Australian biodiversity hotspot

Recreational trampling negatively impacts vegetation structure of an Australian biodiversity hotspot

Trail Impact Management Related to Vegetation Response in Termessos National Park, in Turkish Mediterranean

Local trampling disturbance effects on alpine plant populations and communities: Negative implications for climate change vulnerability

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About