An analysis of the potential impacts of rock climbing on rupestral vegetation

Abstract

The study takes a look at the potential impacts that the sport of rock climbing has on rupestral vegetation. Two different styles of climbing were assessed: traditional (trad) climbing, and sport climbing. These two styles differ in that the latter uses fixed bolts in the cliff face to protect the climber whereas, in the former, removable protection is used. The species richness (number of different species) and frequency (number of individual plants for each species) were observed in each scenario. This was then compared to cliff faces that have not been climbed (non-climbed cliffs) to see how they differ. It was found that there is no evident impact of the sport on the species richness of rupestral vegetation. An impact was found to occur only on the vegetation frequency and the extent of the impact varied from one site to another. The study also showed that sport climbing routes support a lower species richness as well as frequency than trad climbing routes. Additionally the study takes a look at some of the most abundant species found in the cliff habitat. These were shown to be Jasonia bocconei and Hypericum aegyptiacum.