**1. Introduction**

The phenomenon of overtourism, which is understood as the opposite of sustainable tourism, has been known and described so far mainly in the urban areas (e.g., [1–4]). However, it is also beginning to appear in regions considered as zones of silence and rest [5–7]. According to numerous authors [8–16], valuable natural areas are increasingly struggling with the problem of mass tourism. The negative consequences of the excessive tourist traffic represented, among others, by excessive water intake and sewage production, waste generation, noise, increased probability of fire initiation, synanthropisation of flora and fauna, scaring away of animals, as well as changes in the structure of biocoenoses were repeatedly noted in protected areas. Another consequence of excessive tourist traffic is trampling, which leads to the creation of informal trails. The trampling might contribute to changes in vegetation through mechanical damage of plants and species loss [17,18], as well as the influence on seed germination, seedling establishment, growth functions after establishment, vigour and biomass production, as well as flowering and fruiting [19]. Moreover, the trampling might improve the dissemination of diaspores over long distances [20,21], particularly the dispersal of non-native taxa [22].

To date, investigations of the impact of intensity, frequency and season of human trampling on vegetation properties and traits of selected plants have been the main focus of numerous experimental research on sustainable use of natural habitats for recreation in many different habitat types around the world e.g., [23–30]. In the last decades, an increase in the number ofstudies focusing on the impact of trampling and tourist dispersion on the surrounding environment has been observed. Generally, such studies have been carried out in areas protected by law or in hot spots of biodiversity e.g., [29,31–34], and mostly they concentrated on the causes and consequences of tourist dispersion around the trails. At the same time, investigations of the impact of pathway dimensions and/or distance from pathway edge on adjacent vegetation traits e.g., species richness and diversity, height of plants and proportions of species representing different life forms were carried out in forests [35–40] and scrublands [41], as well as in open habitats such as mires and feldmark vegetation [42], heaths [38,43], meadows [38] and dunes [44]. Despite the growing interest in the aforementioned issue, the current state of knowledge is still insufficient, especially in the case of semi-natural calcareous grasslands (*Festuco-Brometea*), which are nowadays considered as one of the most endangered plant communities in Europe, covered by the Natura 2000 network [45].

In this study, we focused on the impact of width of tourist pathways and distance from pathways on (i) plant cover features i.e., height of the tallest plant shoot, species abundance, damaged plant cover percentage by trampling, total plant cover percentage, cover-abundance degree of particular species, and (ii) occurrence of species presenting different habitat affiliations, dispersal modes, life forms and origin (native or alien status in the flora). We aimed to test the hypotheses that (i) the height of plants is lower in plots located near pathways than that in plots located away from pathways, (ii) the percentage of plant cover damaged by trampling is higher in plots located near pathways than that in plots located away from pathways, (iii) the percentage of plant cover damaged by trampling is higher along narrow pathways than that along wide pathways, (iv) the number of species is higher in plots located near pathways than that in plots located away from pathways, and (v) the spectra of habitat affiliation, life form, dispersal mode, and origin of species occurring in plant cover vary significantly among plots situated along pathways with different width, as well as among plots located in diverse distance from tourist trails.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

#### *2.1. Location of the Study Sites*

Seven study sites located in the southwest part of Cracow (southern Poland) have been selected: Bogucianka, Fort Bodzów, Górka Pychowicka, Tyniec, Uroczysko Kowadza, Uroczysko Wielkanoc and Zakrzówek. All the study sites are situated on limestone hills within the Biela ´nsko-Tyniecki Landscape Park (BTPK), a part of the Jurassic Landscape Parks Complex, which constitutes a valuable area protected by law due to its excellent natural, cultural and historical properties.

The vegetation is mainly represented by beech and hornbeam forests from the *Querco-Fagetea* class and by calcareous grasslands from the *Festuco-Brometea* class. In calcareous grasslands the following vascular plants are commonly found: *Achillea millefolium* L., *Coronilla varia* L., *Dianthus carthusianorum* L., *Echium vulgare* L., *Euphorbia cyparissias* L., *Fragaria viridis* Weston, *Plantago media* L., *Plantago lanceolata* L., *Potentilla arenaria* Borkh, *Thymus austriacus* Bernh. and *T. glabrescens* Willd. In most of the study sites, the plants did not create the continuous cover and gaps in the turf were observed. The study sites are influenced by similar climatic conditions. According to Matuszko and Piotrowicz [46], the mean annual air temperature achieves 8.6 ◦C, while the average annual sum of actual sunshine duration amounts to 1539.3 h. The average annual relative humidity amounts to 78%, the highest average monthly values during the year occur in autumn and winter, during spring the humidity drops quickly and achieves the minimum in April. The average annual number of dry days reaches 17.8 and they occur mainly in the warm half-year as single days or two-day periods. The atmospheric precipitation achieves ca. 690 mm and the peak of precipitations occurs in July.

Due to their location within the border of Cracow and easy access by public transport, all the study sites are exposed to the recreational activities of citizens and tourists. "The Cracow City Forest Trail" is a marked walking and cycling route leading, among others, through Bogucianka, Górka Pychowicka, Uroczysko Kowadza and Uroczysko Wielkanoc. Moreover, Perzanowska [47] pointed out that Fort Bodzów and Uroczysko Kowadza are perfect places suitable for outdoor recreation (Table 1).


**Table 1.** The Characteristics of Study Sites.

<sup>1</sup> above sea level.
