Trampling is the act of walking on something repeatedly by humans or animals. Trampling on open ground can destroy the above ground parts of many plants and can compact the soil, thereby creating a distinct microenvironment that specific species may be adapted for. It can be used as part of a

wildlife management Wildlife management is the management process influencing interactions among and between wildlife, its habitats and people to achieve predefined impacts. It attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best availab ...

strategy along

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

. When carrying out investigations like a belt transect, trampling should be avoided. At other times, it is part of the

experimental design The design of experiments (DOE, DOX, or experimental design) is the design of any task that aims to describe and explain the variation of information under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the variation. The term is generally associ ...

. Trampling can be a disturbance to ecology and to archaeological sites.

References

{{ecology-stub Human impact on the environment Ecology