Table 14 — Percent bare ground before and after trampling and after 1 year of recovery for four vegetation 

 types in New Hampshire's Wliite Mountains^ 



Number of passes 









25 



75 



200 



500 



Carex bigelowii 

 (alpine meadow) 

 Before trampling 

 After trampling 

 After 1 year 



6(3)2 

 7 (4) 

 1 (1) 



5(2) 

 5 (2) 

 8(4) 



6(3) 

 8 (4) 

 9(4) 



9(5) 

 31 (8) 

 25 (3) 



1 (1) 

 68 (1 0) 

 58 (11) 



Leersia oryzoides 

 (hardwood forest) 

 Before trampling 

 After trampling 

 After 1 year 



9(6) 

 5 (2) 

 18(9) 



3(1) 

 14 (7) 

 24 (4) 



2(1) 

 55 (9) 

 17(6) 



2(1) 

 86 (7) 

 46 (11) 



2(1) 

 95 (3) 

 74 (5) 



Lycopodium lucidulum 

 (subalpine forest) 

 Before trampling 

 Aftpr tramnlinn 

 After 1 year 



9(1) 



10 ^3^ 



11 (3) 



12(4) 

 35 (5) 

 35 (3) 



9(3) 



48 ^8^ 

 46 (10) 



5(1) 

 71 M1^ 

 44 (8) 



8(4) 

 93 (5) 

 71 (7) 



Maianthemum canadensis 

 (hardwood forest) 



Before trampling 



After trampling 



After 1 year 



18(7) 

 21 (8) 

 18(3) 



17(4) 

 49 (6) 

 25 (3) 



14(3) 

 80 (5) 

 33 (7) 



14(4) 

 96 (2) 

 49 (10) 



14(4) 

 100 (+) 

 36 (4) 



'Percent bare ground is the mean proportion of each quadrat that is not vegetated. 

 ^Standard errors are in parentheses. A + indicates standard error less than 0.5 percent. 



Gleason and Cronquist (1963), with a few exceptions 

 (such as Dryopteris spinulosa, which they call D. austri- 

 aca, and Oxalis montana, which they call O. acetosella. 



Bare Grovind and Vegetation Cover 



Before trampling, three of the four vegetation types 

 had dense ground cover, with mean bare ground less 

 than 10 percent. The Maianthemum type had mean 

 bare ground of 15 percent (table 14). Even hght tram- 

 pUng substantially increased bare ground in three 

 of the four vegetation types. Heavy trampling (500 

 passes) removed virtually all vegetation in these three 

 types and about two-thirds of the vegetation in the 



Carex type. Bare groimd generally decreased during 

 the year following trampling, but did not return to 

 the original levels on any of the treated lanes. 



Relative vegetation cover after trampling differed 

 significantly both with amoimt of trampling and vnth 

 vegetation type (table 15). The interaction between 

 these two effects was not significant. After the year 

 of recovery, differences between trampling levels and 

 vegetation types were still highly significant. In this 

 case, the interaction was significant and substantial. 

 The effect of trampling on Maianthemum was substan- 

 tially less pronounced 1 year after trampling than it 

 was on the other types. 



Table 15 — Analysis of variance and multiple comparisons for relative cover 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 



47.5 



0.0001 



3 



27.0 



0.0001 



Vegetation type 



3 



20.1 



.0001 



3 



7.2 



.0003 



Interaction 



9 



.9 



.49 



9 



2.9 



.006 



Significantly different treatments 



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



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



'Vegetation types: C = Carex, Ly = Lycopodium, Le = Leersia, M = Maianttiemum. 



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