Spatial Organization of the Micromollusc Community under Recreational Load

Abstract The recreational load is an important factor in transforming the living conditions of living organisms in the urban environment. This article examines the role of recreation as a driver of the changing habitat of soil micromolluscs in the park environment in an urban landscape. The hypothesis that recreational exposure changes the hierarchical organization of the spatial distribution of the micromollusc community was tested. An experimental polygon was located in Novooleksandrivskiy Park (Melitopol, Ukraine) and represented 7 transects with 18 test points in each. The set of soil properties explained 24.7% of the variation in the mollusc community. The distance from trees was able to explain 6.8% of mollusc community variation. The distance from recreational pathways was able to explain 12.2% of the variation in the mollusc community. The spatial eigenfunctions were able to explain 54.2% of mollusc community variation. The spatial patterns of variation in the structure of the assemblage of molluscs were found to be due to various causes. Thus, the broad-scale component was due to the distance from trees and the distance fro m the recreational pathways and was associated with the variability of soil penetration resistance, aggregate structure, electrical conductivity, soil moisture and density. The recreational load is the cause of this pattern formation. In turn, the medium-scale component reflected the influence of soil aggregate composition on the mollusс community and components independent of soil properties. The fine-scale component reflected the variability of the mollusc community, which was independent of soil properties.