## 4 Discussion
### Vegetation  
ORV activity negatively affects vegetation cover and plant individuals' abundance, species richness, diversity, and composition [1]. The soil tillage significantly improved the state of the trails during the first two years following the Disk treatment, in terms of vegetation cover, species richness, and diversity and vegetation composition as well as in terms of cover (Figures 2b, 6a,d,e and 7b). The vegetation cover and abundance of plant individuals in the Disk trail treatment were lower than in the Control but slightly higher in the Disk-treated trails. However, the species' richness was significantly higher in the Disk-treated trails than in untreated ones and almost similar to that in Control. Moreover, the species diversity H\({}^{\prime}\) was significantly higher on the Disk-treated trails than in the Control and the non-treated trails. The shallow tillage created microtopographic variations (e.g., small pits and mounds) that enabled seed accumulation and enhanced germination opportunities to support a range of plant species with different ecological requirements [43]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [44,45] found that under arid conditions in Israel, micro-scale differences in the soil surface cause the annual plant seeds to be trapped in soil pits and germinate during winter (Figure 2b). The early colonizers are wind-dispersed. Later, the dispersal mode does not affect colonization. Disturbance removes the seed bank from such micro-habitants. However, the sink function of pits for colonization increases with the removal of vegetation, soil crust, and seed bank as well as with the capacity of patches to capture resources, plant propagules, and water. Sink function decreased with time due to the decreasing availability of new species but increased in more substantial sink patches in the vicinity. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis and ecological exclusion can also explain the high diversity of species in the disk-treated trails. The temporary change in the compacted trails due to the shallow tillage represents early successional stages, with more herbaceous species and very few late-successful species, as found in our study (Figure 7b). At this stage, the competing potential with woody, dominant species is very low, and it is not severe enough to eliminate sensitive species. In the Control patches, a few competitive species (e.g., shade-tolerant or climax species) dominate, reducing evenness and herbaceous diversity [43,46]. The plant assemblage that developed in the Disk trails differs significantly from that in the Control and compacted No Disk trails. This difference stems from species composition, especially the relative abundance distribution within the plant community, as expressed in the species diversity H\({}^{\prime}\). Individual seedlings of dwarf shrub species, such as the Haloxylon scoparia and Reaumuria hirtella_ (Tamaricaceae), appeared in the Disk subplots in the first and second years. Four years and even twenty years after the single disk tillage, developed dwarf shrubs were seen in these plots (Figure 2b). Two dominant herbaceous species can be found in the Control and the No Disk trails: _Gymnarthea micrantha_ and _Erotium crassifolium_. The amphicrapic annual dwarf _Gymnarthea micrantha_, usually stemless, has aerial and subterranean achenes that differ in morphology, dispersal ability, and germination behavior. The aerial achenes are smaller and equipped with a pappus, while the subterranean achenes are relatively large and lack a pappus. Subterranean achenes remain attached to the dead mother plant and germinate in situ (atelechory), thus protecting the seed from seedeaters until they germinate [47; 48]. At the end of the seed ripening season, the main root shrinks and buries the inflorescence with its seeds deep in the soil. When these seeds germinate, they will already be found at the appropriate depth in the soil. They will not have to penetrate the hard crust that typically forms on the loess soil surface characteristic of the habitat of _G.