This article reviews the scientific literature on trail erosion and the magnitude of the erosive processes that occur on mountain trails due to recreational activities, mainly due to hiking. This work is necessary as a result of the increase in hiking and biking in forest, scrubland and grasslands, and the soil and vegetation degradation induced by these activities. We analysed results that have been compiled in the scientific literature, as well as other issues such as the geographical and temporal distribution of the research, the methods applied, the journals where the research was published, the types and quantity of uses of the pathways and the measures undertaken for damage mitigation. This paper highlights that there is a need for harmonization of methods. The results show that soil erosion rates are highly variable, high, and non-sustainable. Trail erosion research is growing at a rate of 3 papers per year and is published in a small group of scientific journals. Six journals published 47% of the papers on trail erosion, which show a high concentration in environmental journals. There are few papers published in the soil science and geomorphology disciplines, although the research topic and the science background are in these two disciplines. Reported world soil losses from trails ranged from 6.1 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ to 2090 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹, all of which are not sustainable. Trail erosion has mainly been investigated in the USA and is a new topic in other regions of the world. There is a need to implement mitigation measures to avoid land degradation, and this should be researched in the near future as right now most of the research describes and quantifies the problem but does not provide solutions: mitigation, rehabilitation or restoration. From a pure scientific approach, we claim that there is a need to research the connectivity of flows and the role of the trails on runoff generation and then sediment yield at pedon, slope and watershed scales. There is a need to research the mechanisms of the soil erosion process in trails: trampling effect, wheel impact, factors and seasonal and temporal changes.

本文回顾了有关山坡侵蚀和由于休闲活动（主要是徒步旅行）而在山路上发生的侵蚀过程的严重程度的科学文献。由于森林，灌木丛和草原的远足和骑自行车的增加以及这些活动引起的土壤和植被退化，这项工作是必要的。我们分析了科学文献中已汇编的结果，以及其他问题，例如研究的地理和时间分布，应用的方法，研究发表的期刊，途径和用途的类型和数量。为减轻损害而采取的措施。本文强调需要协调方法。结果表明，土壤侵蚀率变化很大，很高，而且是不可持续的 径流侵蚀研究正以每年3篇论文的速度增长，并在一小群科学期刊上发表。六种期刊发表了47％的关于径迹侵蚀的论文，这些论文集中在环境期刊上。尽管研究主题和科学背景属于这两个学科，但在土壤科学和地貌学学科中发表的论文很少。据报告，小径上的世界土壤流失量为6.1 Mg ha 尽管研究主题和科学背景属于这两个学科。据报告，小径上的世界土壤流失量为6.1 Mg ha 尽管研究主题和科学背景属于这两个学科。据报告，小径上的世界土壤流失量为6.1 Mg ha^-1 y ^-1至2090 Mg ha ^-1 y ^-1，所有这些都不可持续。径迹侵蚀主要在美国进行了调查，在世界其他地区是一个新话题。有必要实施缓解措施以避免土地退化，应该在不久的将来对此进行研究，因为目前大多数研究都对问题进行了描述和量化，但并未提供解决方案：缓解，恢复或恢复。从纯粹的科学方法出发，我们认为有必要研究水流的连通性以及径迹在径流产生中的作用，然后研究在人脚，坡度和分水岭尺度上的沉积物产量。需要研究小径中土壤侵蚀过程的机制：践踏效应，车轮撞击，因素以及季节和时间变化。