Table 22 — Mean vegetation height (cm) before and after trampling and after 1 year of recovery for four 

 vegetation types in North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains 



Number of passes 









25 



75 



200 



500 



Carex pensylvanica 













(beech forest) 













Before trampling 



15(1)^ 



14(1) 



16(1) 



15(1) 



16(1) 



After trampling 



14(1) 



4(1) 



2(+) 



1 (+) 



1 (+) 



After 1 year 



14(1) 



12(1) 



12(1) 



11 (+) 



12(+) 



Potentilla simplex 













(old-field) 













Before trampling 



22 (3) 



22(5) . 



29 (3) 



26 (6) 



23 (2) 



After trampling 



21 (1) 



5(+) 



3(1) 



1 (1) 



+ W 



After 1 year 



20 (2) 



17(3) 



24 (4) 



18(3) 



14(3) 



Amphicarpa bracteata 













(cove hardwood forest) 













Before trampling 



15(2) 



14(2) 



16(3) 



14(2) 



14(1) 



After trampling 



15(2) 



3(1) 



1 (+) 



1 (+) 



+ (+) 



After 1 year 



14(1) 



13(2) 



10(1) 



8(1) 



8(1) 



Dryopteris campyloptera 













(subalpine forest) 













Before trampling 



48 (6) 



49 (4) 



44 (7) 



42 (8) 



50 (6) 



After trampling 



49 (7) 



3(1) 



2(+) 



1 (+) 



+ W 



After 1 year 



46 (9) 



36 (5) 



36 (6) 



29 (7) 



28 (3) 



^Values in parentheses are one standard error. A + Indicates mean height or standard error less than 0.5 cm. 



Vegetation Height 



In comparison to other study areas, ground cover 

 vegetation was relatively tall prior to trampling, par- 

 ticularly in the Dryopteris type (mean height of 47 cm). 

 Vegetation in the Potentilla type was also tall (mean 

 height of 24 cm), while height was moderate in the 

 Carex and Amphicarpa types (mean of 15 cm). Tram- 

 pling reduced vegetation height quickly and dramati- 

 cally in all fovir types (table 22). Mean height was 5 cm 

 or less after 25 passes and 1 cm or less after 200 passes 

 in each of these types. 



Relative height differed significantly with the 

 amount of trampling and with the vegetation type. 



The interaction between these effects was not signif- 

 icant (table 23). These effects were still significant 

 1 year after trampling, but the differences decreased 

 markedly. The only significant difference between 

 trampling intensities was between the 25-pass lanes 

 and all others. The only significant difference between 

 vegetation types was that relative height was greater 

 in Potentilla than Amphicarpa. 



Even hght trampling dramatically reduced the 

 height of all fovu" types (fig. 30). The height of Dryop- 

 teris was reduced more than the other types, which 

 were not significantly different. For example, relative 

 height after 25 passes was 30 percent in Carex and 

 Potentilla, 22 percent in Amphicarpa, and 7 percent 



Table 23 — Analysis of variance and multiple comparisons for relative height after trampling and after 

 1 year of recovery in North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains 



Source 





After trampling 





After 1 year 



df 



F P 



df 



F P 



Number of passes 



3 



67.1 0.0001 



3 



6.4 0.0007 



Vegetation type 



3 



17.0 .0001 



3 



3.0 .04 



Interaction 



9 



1.2 .30 



9 



1.2 .31 





Significantly different treatments 







Number of passes 





25>75>200>500 





25>75,200,500 



Vegetation types^ 





C,P,A>D 





P>A 



^Vegetation types: C = Carex, P = 



Panicum, A = Amphicarpa. D = Dryopteris. 







40 



