Table 16 — Mean vegetation height (cm) before and after trampling and after 1 year of recovery for four 

 vegetation types in New Hampshire's White Mountains 



Number of passes 



25 75 200 500 



Carex bigelowii 

 (alpine meadow) 



Before trampling 16 (1)^ 13(2) 15(2) 14(1) 15(2) 



After trampling 16(1) 6 (+) 5 (+) 3 (+) 2 (+) 



After 1 year 18(2) 12(2) 12 (+) 9(1) 8(1) 



Leersia oryzoides 

 (hardwood forest) 



Before trampling 33(3) 35 (1) 28 (4) 29 (3) 29(3) 



After trampling 33(3) 3(1) 2(1) 1 (+) + (+) 



After 1 year 19(8) 16(1) 16(3) 14(5) 5(1) 



Lycopodium lucidulum 

 (subalpine forest) 



Before trampling 11(2) 9(1) 11(2) 18(6) 14(3) 



After trampling 11(2) 4(1) 4(1) 5(3) 1(1) 



After 1 year 12(3) 6(1) 6(1) 10(4) 5(1) 



Maianthemum canadensis 



(hardwood forest) ^ 



Before trampling 11(3) 10(3) 8(3) 10(3) 13(4) 



After trampling 1 1 (3) 5 (3) 2 (+) 1 (+) 3 (2) 



After 1 year 8(1) 7(1) 5(1) 5(1) 6(1) 



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



50 percent after 25 passes and about 15 percent after 

 500 passes. During the year after trampling, height 

 increased in all vegetation types. As was the case 

 with cover, recovery was greatest in Leersia and Mai- 

 anthemum and least in Lycopodium. 



When comparing the rate of height reduction to the 

 rate of cover loss, only Carex and Leersia showed sub- 

 stantial differences. In both of these types, height was 

 reduced more rapidly than cover was lost. Leersia 

 recovered more of its height after 1 year than Carex. 



Species Richness and Composition 



Species richness declined only on the most heavily 

 trampled lanes and only on three of the four vegetatioi 

 types (fig. 22). Even 500 passes did not significantly 

 reduce species richness in the Carex type. Species 

 richness declined significantly aft«r 500 passes in the 

 Leersia and Lycopodium types and after 200 passes 

 in the Maianthemum type. One year after trampling, 

 species richness was not significantly different from 



Table 17 — Analysis of variance and multiple comparisons for relative height after trampling and after 

 1 year of recovery in New Hampshire's White Mountains 



Source 





After trampling 







After 1 year 





df 



F 



P 



df 



F 



P 



Number of passes 



3 



17.2 



0.0001 



3 



11.5 



0.0001 



Vegetation type 



3 



18.5 



.0001 



3 



4.2 



.009 



Interaction 



9 



.5 



.90 



9 



1.0 



.48 



Significantly different treatments 



Number of passes 25>200,500; 75,200>500 25,75,200>500 



Vegetation types^ C,Ly>M>Le Le,M>Ly 



^Vegetation types: C = Carex, Ly = Lycopodium, M = Maiantfiemum, Le = Leersia. 



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