Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran

Abstract Recreational activities worldwide have major impacts on the environment. This study examined the impact of different kinds of recreational activities on plant communities in a highly visited park in Mashhad, Iran. Vegetation in the park was sampled along 41 random 10-m transects with differ...

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Autores principales:	Mohammad Bagher Erfanian, Juha M. Alatalo, Hamid Ejtehadi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d7fc211ef3904341b209d471334e8b27
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d7fc211ef3904341b209d471334e8b272021-12-02T18:01:47ZSevere vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran10.1038/s41598-021-99261-52045-2322https://doaj.org/article/d7fc211ef3904341b209d471334e8b272021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99261-5https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Recreational activities worldwide have major impacts on the environment. This study examined the impact of different kinds of recreational activities on plant communities in a highly visited park in Mashhad, Iran. Vegetation in the park was sampled along 41 random 10-m transects with different human disturbances (trails, dirt roads, campsites) and undisturbed communities. Life form spectrum, species composition, species and phylogenetic diversity were determined for all communities. Disturbance increased the frequency of therophytes, but decreased the frequency of chamaephytes and percentage vegetated area. Recreational-mediated disturbance had variable impact on species composition, but decreased species and phylogenetic diversity compared with undisturbed areas. Roads and campsites caused the greatest damage, while trails had the smallest negative impact on vegetation. This study showed that damage to (semi-)natural park vegetation differs with recreation activity. This finding can help prioritise management activities to minimise negative impacts of recreation activities on local vegetation. The current visitor load to the urban park studied here appears too high to be sustainable over time, so better monitoring and restrictions on visitor numbers may be needed to minimise the negative impacts on park vegetation. The camping impacts can be managed by creating clusters of designated campsites to spatially concentrate the impact area. Low-impact practices should be communicated to visitors.Mohammad Bagher ErfanianJuha M. AlataloHamid EjtehadiNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Mohammad Bagher Erfanian Juha M. Alatalo Hamid Ejtehadi Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran
description	Abstract Recreational activities worldwide have major impacts on the environment. This study examined the impact of different kinds of recreational activities on plant communities in a highly visited park in Mashhad, Iran. Vegetation in the park was sampled along 41 random 10-m transects with different human disturbances (trails, dirt roads, campsites) and undisturbed communities. Life form spectrum, species composition, species and phylogenetic diversity were determined for all communities. Disturbance increased the frequency of therophytes, but decreased the frequency of chamaephytes and percentage vegetated area. Recreational-mediated disturbance had variable impact on species composition, but decreased species and phylogenetic diversity compared with undisturbed areas. Roads and campsites caused the greatest damage, while trails had the smallest negative impact on vegetation. This study showed that damage to (semi-)natural park vegetation differs with recreation activity. This finding can help prioritise management activities to minimise negative impacts of recreation activities on local vegetation. The current visitor load to the urban park studied here appears too high to be sustainable over time, so better monitoring and restrictions on visitor numbers may be needed to minimise the negative impacts on park vegetation. The camping impacts can be managed by creating clusters of designated campsites to spatially concentrate the impact area. Low-impact practices should be communicated to visitors.
format	article
author	Mohammad Bagher Erfanian Juha M. Alatalo Hamid Ejtehadi
author_facet	Mohammad Bagher Erfanian Juha M. Alatalo Hamid Ejtehadi
author_sort	Mohammad Bagher Erfanian
title	Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran
title_short	Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran
title_full	Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran
title_fullStr	Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran
title_full_unstemmed	Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran
title_sort	severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in iran
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/d7fc211ef3904341b209d471334e8b27
work_keys_str_mv	AT mohammadbaghererfanian severevegetationdegradationassociatedwithdifferentdisturbancetypesinapoorlymanagedurbanrecreationdestinationiniran AT juhamalatalo severevegetationdegradationassociatedwithdifferentdisturbancetypesinapoorlymanagedurbanrecreationdestinationiniran AT hamidejtehadi severevegetationdegradationassociatedwithdifferentdisturbancetypesinapoorlymanagedurbanrecreationdestinationiniran
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Severe vegetation degradation associated with different disturbance types in a poorly managed urban recreation destination in Iran

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