Question

Result: Hiking trails with more human foot traffic have less woody vegetation (e.g, trees) than hiking trails with less human traffic.

a. Form a discussion section. (two paragraphs or so would be sufficient). This section should:

i.   Cite at least one peer-reviewed journal article that discusses this topic with a properly formatted parenthetical citation

ii.    Interpret and discuss the biological significance of your result (using the citation(s) for support)

iii.    Discusses future directions for research

b.    Develop a references section containing properly formatted full citation(s) for the journal article(s) cited in your discussion section.

Answer 1

Hiking trails are which are more frequently used by humans lose more of their natural factors as compared to those of the trails which have less human impact. There is a definite negative ecological impact to ecosystems, plants and wildlife. This is caused due to trampling, soil compaction, erosion, disturbance due to noise mption and other human activities, pollution, nutrient loading and even introduction of non -native invasive plant species in the area.

Those hiking tracks which are less frequented by humans have to face a lesser degree of all the negative impacts due to obvious reasons.

In the article 'Threats to trails' by the American Hiking Society, published at https://americanhiking.org, cites cases where air pollution from human activity negatively affects not only the plants and animals but the hikers as well. Our energy choices off the trail can definitely affect our experience during hiking. In the article it is clearly mentioned that how human activities like encroaching urban development, proliferating human infrastructure, human misuse and overuse of nature, degraded air quality, increased user group conflicts on or around the track, water degradation in the area, damaging natural resource selection, all lead to loss of the trail experience and the solitude and relaxation which people seek when they go out for hiking. Increased human impacts are blocking wildlife corridors, fragmenting forests and bringing destructive invasive species into the ecosystem.

The future direction of research is based on how to develop an integrated approach at minimizing the damage to the ecosystem of the hiking spots. Some hiking spots are naturally closed for some part of the year due to adverse climatic conditions. For those hiking trails which have a favourable climate throughout the year, human trafick should be prohibited for those months in the year during which animals breed and plants are in a vulnerable conditions. It is also important that the people also own responsibility for making the least or rather, no interference in the nature while they are hiking. Research has to be done in this area too about how to make people more responsible and committed towards upholding the sanctity of the place they choose to hike in.

References-

Threats to trails - American Hiking Society

The impacts of trail infrastucture on vegetation and soils - https://www.ncbi.nih.gov>pub

https://www.researchgate.net