Comparative study on soil properties in a picnic and undisturbed area of Belgrad Forest, Istanbul

The aim of this paper was to investigate the recreational impacts on some soil properties (sand, silt, clay pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, bulk density, fine soil weight, compaction and saturation capacity), and litter (unit weight-mass, organic matter content (%) and organic matter mass) properties in a picnic area by comparing an undisturbed area in Istanbul Belgrad Forest-Turkey. According to the results obtained in this study the litter mass on the picnic area has been found considerably lower. There were some crucial changes in the characteristics of the soil which has been investigated in 0-5 cm depth. No important difference had been detected between the picnic area and the undisturbed area in terms of sand, silt and clay proportions. However, other investigated soil properties in 0-5 cm depth showed significant differences between undisturbed area and picnic area. Soil was significantly compacted by recreational activities in picnic area. Moreover organic carbon content (1.328%) on the picnic area has found quite lower Depending on the compaction of the soil and lessen quantity of soil organic matter the value of saturation capacity (24.13%) in the picnic area was considerably lower bulk density and fine soil weights significantly higher. Thus, the soil properties in the picnic area were negatively affected by recreational pressure.