Abstract
The aim of the study was to monitor the impact of anthropogenic trampling of gray forest soil on their content of water, air, solid particles and the mass of fine and coarse roots. The contents of mass of solid particles, volume of air, water and its permeability were determined according to generally accepted methods using of measuring cylinders. Soil roots colonization was measured by the method of “monoliths”. It was found out that under the impact of anthropogenic trampling, water reserves in the upper 50-centimeter layer of soils were 1.6-5.3% higher than under matured oak-hornbeam stand without visible signs of degradation, and the soil water saturation coefficient during the research was lower (0.21-0.43%) than the optimal values (0.80%). At the same time, the greatest destruction changes were experienced by the researched physical indicators in a humus horizon of gray forest soils. An increase of solid particles (by 14.1-22.8%), decrease of air pores (by 32.0-44.3%) and the mass of fine roots of trees (by 84.6-91.2%) in the 10-cm soil layer were recorded. It is found that in the event of cessation of trampling of the path surface, the natural recovery of degraded physical indicators in compacted soils happens most intensively in the 5-centimeter horizon. At the same time the changes in the decrease of solid particles (by 9.9%), an increase of pores (by 39.1%) and fine roots of trees (by 330.0%) were observed over a 15-year period. The obtained quantitative and relative indicators of the content in anthropogenically compacted soils of solid particles, water and air explain the features of its settlement by roots of vegetation, and also indicate the applied significance of the results presented in the study