Soil compaction. An ecological risk in urban forests

Unregulated trampling in natural and urban forests compacts the soil, and the plants suffer. In an urban forest in Moscow, soil bulk density in heavily trampled sites increases significantly: 1.6–1.8 g/cm3 compared with 0.6–0.7 g/cm3 on sites under negligible human pressure. As soil density increases, heavy metals and their mobile fractions accumulate in the soil and roots. Amongst forest species capable of loosening soil and thereby improving its physicochemical properties, larch has the lowest soil density (0.42–0.57 g/cm−3) and appears to reduce the toxicity of heavy metals in forest and forest park landscapes. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.