*2.4. The Species Groups*

To assess the species response to tourist activities, we selected four traits (i.e., habitat affiliation, life form, native or alien status in the flora and mode of seed dispersal) that were "ecologically meaningful" in accordance with the ability to persist in the stressful conditions caused by man (trampling) and accompanying animals (ground browning, wallowing). The traits of particular vascular plant species evidenced in the plots are presented in Table A1.

Habitat affiliation was assigned according to Matuszkiewicz [51]. The species were assigned to (i) grassland species (occurring in calcareous grasslands from the *Festuco-Brometea* class, thermophilic fringe communities representing the *Rhamno-Prunetea* and *Trifolio-Geranietea sanguinei* classes, grasslands

and heaths from the *Nardo-Callunetea* class, pioneering communities on mobile or poorly fixed screes *Thlaspietea rotundifolii*, rocky grasslands *Seslerio-Festucion duriusculae, calamine* grasslands *Violetea calaminariae*, sandy grasslands *Koelerio glaucae-Corynephoretea canescentis*), (ii) meadow species (occurring in communities representing the *Molinio-Arrhenatheretea* class), (iii) forest species (occurring in communities from the *Querco-Fagetea* class), and (iv) ruderal species (occurring in ruderal communities of perennial plants from the *Artemisietea vulgaris* class, nitrophilous communities of logging, trampled and ruderal areas from the *Epilobietea angustifolii* class, semi-ruderal xerothermic pioneer communities from the *Agropyretea intermedio-repentis* class, communities of arable fields *Stellarietea mediae*, segetal weeds community *Papaveretum argemones*, and annual plant and biennial ruderal plant communities *Sisymbrietalia*).

The life form of species proposed by Raunkiaer [52] was assigned according to the database "Ecological Flora of the British Isles" [53]. The following life forms were distinguished: phanerophytes, chamaephytes, hemicryptophytes, geophytes and therophytes. In the case of missing data the publication of Ellenberg et al. [54] was included.

The dispersal mode of species was assigned based on the database "Pladias" [55]. The following dispersal types were distinguished: *Allium* (mainly autochory, as well as anemochory, endozoochory, epizoochory), *Bidens* (mainly autochory and epizoochory, as well as endozoochory), *Cornus* (autochory and endozoochory), *Epilobium* (mainly anemochory and autochory, as well as endozoochory, epizoochory). The detailed description of dispersal modes can be found in the publication of Sádlo et al. [56].

The origin of species was assigned based on the database "Alien species in Poland" [57]. The alien species was understood as a species or lower taxon, introduced outside its natural past or present range that might survive and subsequently reproduce. The native species to a given area is a species that has been observed in the form of a naturally occurring and self-sustaining population from historical times.

Data concerning habitat affiliation and life form of *Erigeron acris* ssp. *serotinus* (Weihe) Greuter, which are lacking in the aforementioned sources, were taken from the publication of Pliszko [58]. Plants identified solely to the rank of a genus (e.g., *Carex* sp.) were excluded from the analyses. Moreover, the cultivated plants such as *Cerasus vulgaris* Mill. and *Malus domestica* Borkh. were excluded from the analysis of habitat affiliation.

### *2.5. The Data Analysis*

The mean height of the tallest plant shoot, number of species, percentage of aboveground biomass damage by trampling, total plant cover percentage, as well as degree of cover-abundance of a particular species (±SD) were calculated in the research plots CL and FU, as well as in the plots located along narrow and wide pathways in each study site.

The normal distribution of the untransformed data was tested using the Kołmogorov-Smirnov test, whereas the homogeneity of variance was verified using the Levene test at the significance level of *p* < 0.05. The ANOVA analysis of main effects followed by the post-hoc Tukey HSD test was applied to check the statistical significance of the effect of pathway width and plot distance from the pathway on (i) the height of the tallest plant shoot, (ii) the number of species, (iii) total plant cover percentage, (iv) percentage of plant cover damaged by trampling, as well as (v) degree of cover-abundance of a particular species within the study plots. The aforementioned analyses were computed using a STATISTICA software (version 13). The chi-square test with Yates correction for continuity was applied to check whether there were significant differences among the plots located along the narrow and wide pathways, as well as in the plots situated at a diverse distance from the border of trails in cover-abundance degree of species showing various habitat affiliation, life form, seed dispersal mode and species origin. The chi-square test was conducted using the interactive calculation tool [59].
