Quantitative assessment of the effect of recreation on vegetation, forest litter, and soil compactness in forest parks of Moscow

The quantitative characteristics of vegetation, forest litter, and soil status at different stages of recreation digression are discussed by the example of the Losinyi Ostrov and the Bittsevskii Les forest parks (Moscow). Plant cover is most sensitive to recreation impact: successions of its parameters are already seen at transition to stage II of ecosystem digression. Forest litter type is changed at stages III and IV, and a statistically significant drop in its reserves occurs at stage V. The compactness of the top mineral soil layer increases statistically by 0.24–0.28 g/cm3 at rather high recreation impact at stages IV and V.