Effect of recreation on the spatial variation of soil physical properties

Recreation affects various components of ecosystems. A significant transformation occurs in the soil cover in urban parks. The physical properties of soil are sensitive indicators of the level of anthropogenic transformation, and also allow to assess the state of soil as a habitat for plants and soil animals. The question of quantitative patterns of soil properties variability under the influence of recreation is not solved. There is also little information on the spatial aspect of the variability of soil physical properties in urban ecosystems. The aim of our study is to test the hypothesis that the recreational loads cause the formation of spatial patterns of soil properties, which by their extent greatly exceed the zone of direct influence. The spontaneous walkways within an urban park were investigated as an example of recreational loading. The physical soil properties were measured on a regular grid. The distance to the walkway was treated as a proxy variable that indicates recreational load. The application of multivariate statistical methods allowed to reveal the components of the variation of soil properties of different nature. The effect of recreational load is superimposed on the natural variability of properties. The peculiarity of the influence of recreation consists in sharp increase of soil penetration resistance in the upper soil layers and decrease of this index in the lower layers. The recreational load affects the physical properties of the soil. The soil compaction is the main direction of transformation. This effect gradually attenuates with distance from the source of exposure while occupying a significant portion of the space. The variation of soil properties affects the redistribution of soil moisture and soil air, which significantly affects the living conditions of soil biota.