Impacts of ski pistes preparation and ski tourism on vegetation

Abstract

Vegetation of the ski slopes in the Low Tatras National Park in Slovakia was evaluated through the environmental variables and species composition caused by human impact assessment. We compared the grasslands located on pistes, off pistes and on the edge of pistes, and within these we also recorded the grassland management. The results show that the majority of study areas managed by transport of sod clippings has reached the lowest number of species; contrariwise, the grasslands with no management are characterized by the highest number of species. Areas on pistes managed by cutting correlates positively with the bare ground. Cover of mosses positively correlates with the total cover and areas with no management. Total of 17 synanthropic plant species and 2 nonnative species as the indicator of human interventions were noticed. They occurred particularly on the edge areas but also in the surroundings of the off piste areas.

Keywords

• vegetation composition
• ski slopes
• human influence
• management