Abstract
An assessment of the state of soil invertebrate complex, litter horizons, and soddy-podzolic soils (Albic Retisols) in Moscow forest parks (“Bitsevskii Forest” and “Losinyi Ostrov”) as a function of the level of recreational loads is presented. A clear pattern has been established for the deterioration of the soil invertebrates as the recreational load increases. This occurs as a result of changes in their habitat conditions, largely due to changes in the soil water regime and soil invertebrate feeding conditions. The abundance, biomass and diversity of soil invertebrates decrease by a factor of 2–2.5 under the influence of the recreational load. The condition of soil invertebrates is a sensitive indicator, which depends on the conditions of their habitat and is mainly determined by changes in the characteristics of the litter and soil properties.
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