Impact of Large Ungulates on Forest Land in Terms of Soil Compaction in the Temperate Zone of Europe

A.M.A. Adam¹ , V. Pichler² , M. Homolak³

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.6 , Issue.8 , pp.27-33, Aug-2020

Online published on Aug 31, 2020

Copyright © A.M.A. Adam, V. Pichler, M. Homolak . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
The study of impact of large ungulates on forest land with regard to soil compaction was conducted in two locations in the temperate zone of Europe. They were selected in Carpathians and eastern Poland (the Bialowieza National Park and the Bialwieza Forest). The study aimed to investigate the physical effects of large ungulates on forest soils, as produced by trampling or hoof action, with respect to soil compaction, as well as to determine the spatial pattern of influence by grazing animals. Samples for determination of soil physical properties (soil particle density, bulk density, and soil porosity) were taken from three kinds of plots representing different sites with different degrees of animal disturbnace (high disturbance, intermediate, and undisturbed conditions). From each plot, several samples of soil were taken from different depths (0?5cm and 5?10cm). The data used for evaluation of soil physical properties were analyzed through the analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Duncan?s multiple range test P<0.05 and Wilcoxon matched pair test at P<0.1. The results indicated that all soil bulk densities of the highly disturbed areas were higher than those in medium and undisturbed sites. Thus, mean bulk density of the plot Bialowieza Bison Park in the breeding area (1.58 g cm-3) was significantly higher than in the undisturbed area (1.18 g cm-3), in opposite, soil porosity in the breeding area (38.5%) was significantly lower than (53.5%) in the undisturbed area. In the view of considerable forest damage caused by forest game at the present time, our study shows that beside the traditionally recognized damage (such as browsing), degradation of soil physical and hydrophysical properties should be considered when proposing sustainable game management

Key-Words / Index Term :
large ungulates, soil compaction, soil physical properties, soil porosity, soil bulk density

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