Eduardo Bessa

How Nature-Based Tourism Might Increase Prey Vulnerability to Predators.

Tourism can be deleterious for wildlife because it triggers behavioral changes in individuals with cascading effects on populations and communities. Among these behavioral changes, animals around humans often reduce their fearfulness and antipredator responses towards humans. A straightforward prediction is that habituation to humans associated with tourism would negatively influence reaction to predators. This could happen indirectly, where human presence decreases the number of natural predators and thus prey become less wary, or directly, where human-habituated individuals become bolder and thus more vulnerable to predation. Building on ideas from the study of traits associated with domestication and urbanization, we develop a framework to understand how behavioral changes associated with nature-based tourism can impact individual fitness, and thus the demographic trajectory of a population.

Fish assemblages from touristic and non-visited headwater streams differ

Nature-based tourism is a growing industry in recent years, including underwater trails in clear headwater streams. These activities, however, bring little known impacts, most of them in the individual and population levels. To investigate if human presence can affect the fish community, we compared similar reference and tourism areas in terms of species accumulation curve, ecological indicators (richness, total abundance, diversity and dominance), composition similarity and indicator species. Only fish abundance did not differ between reference and tourism areas. Richness, diversity and dominance were all higher in tourism areas. Fish species composition also differed between reference and tourism, guided by species substitution. We add ecological data to previous behavioral studies that have already evidenced the effects of tourism on fish. We also suggest a strict control of the number and permanence of visitors in the water, the forbiddance of fish feeding and maintenance of the riparian coverage to avoid irreversible damages to these fragile environments.

Nature-Based Tourism Elicits a Phenotypic Shift in the Coping Abilities of Fish

Nature-based tourism is gaining extensive popularity, increasing the intensity and frequency of human-wildlife contacts. As a consequence, behavioral and physiological alterations were observed in most exposed animals. However, while the majority of these studies investigated the effects of punctual exposure to tourists, the consequences of constant exposition to humans in the wild remains overlooked. This is an important gap considering the exponential interest for recreational outdoor activities. To infer long-term effects of intensive tourism, we capitalized on Odontostilbe pequira, a short-lived sedentary Tetra fish who spends its life close to humans, on which it feeds on dead skin. Hence, those fish are constantly exposed to tourists throughout their lifecycle. Here we provide an integrated picture of the whole phenomenon by investigating, for the first time, the expression of genes involved in stress response and neurogenesis, as well as behavioral and hormonal responses of animals consistently exposed to tourists. Gene expression of the mineralocorticoid (and cortisol) receptor (mr) and the neurogenic differentiation factor (NeuroD) were significantly higher in fish sampled in the touristic zone compared to those sampled in the control zone. Additionally, after a simulated stress in artificial and controlled conditions, those fish previously exposed to visitors produced more cortisol and presented increased behavioral signs of stress compared to their non-exposed conspecifics. Overall, nature-based tourism appeared to shift selection pressures, favoring a sensitive phenotype that does not thrive under natural conditions. The ecological implications of this change in coping style remain, nevertheless, an open question.

Nature-Based Tourism and Prey Vulnerability to Predators: A Reply to Fitzgerald and Stronza

In a recent review [1] we developed a framework to identify potential ecological consequences of long-term benign interactions between humans and animals and to highlight potential deleterious effects of non-threatening wildlife viewing by tourists. Fitzgerald and Stronza [2] questioned our hypothesis stating that ‘It sends a countervailing, mixed message to conservation stakeholders about the real importance of tourism for protecting wildlife’ and claimed that we focused on negative points while ecotourism could bring many more benefits than costs to endangered animals.

Pets at ecotourism destinations: cute mascot or trojan horse?

ABSTRACT Alien species are threatening native fauna worldwide and cats and dogs have well-documented deleterious impacts on wildlife. Ecotourism operators often live and raise their pets in natural reserves. Here we discuss how pets add to the list of potential negative impacts of ecotourism and provide recommendations to control or attenuate such impacts.

Introduction: Ecotourism’s Promise and Peril

This is a book that desires to improve the positive impacts of ecotourism and nature-based tourism by properly identifying potential biological impacts so as to help develop effective mitigations and management. We focus mostly on impacts on wildlife. We bring a unique animal-behavior centered approach to potential impacts of eco- and nature-based tourism. Changes in behavior are usually the first reaction of animals to environmental challenges, and ecotourism can be viewed as an environmental challenge. This behavioral perspective focuses on mechanisms of how animals respond to threats and challenges. A conflict between what is good for nature and the societal benefits that may emerge from ecotourism is more-or-less expected given the desire to both reduce impacts on nature while benefiting people and promoting conservation. We develop a research agenda that will ultimately create a culture of evidence-based ecotourism. It is through evidence-based ecotourism research that we will make ecotourism more sustainable for both the natural resources that we seek to explore as well as the communities that are charged with their stewardship.

Impacts of Fish Tourism

There is a growing nature tourism industry that encourages and enables people to interact with fish. Fish provide an important source of food for humans as well as play an important role in regulating ecosystems. Compared to the many studies that focus on potential impacts of tourism on terrestrial animals, there are relatively few that have focused on fish tourism. We describe how fish respond to divers and snorkelers as well as how they respond to food provisioning by ecotourists by focusing on the physiological, behavioral, and community impacts of these non-extractive uses. We hope that by clearly articulating the chain of potential impacts, tourism operators and tourists can minimize their impacts and protect both the fish and the aquatic community in ways that ultimately facilitate both sustainable tourism and habitat and species protection.

Best Practices Toward Sustainable Ecotourism

The goal of this book is to empower operators, regulators, and tourists to find the critical balance between possibly damaging consequences of wildlife tourism and the potential benefits to the local human communities, ecosystems, and the wildlife themselves. It is essential to realize that ecotourism is frequently more environmentally friendly than other uses of natural resources. Thus, ecotourism can provide great incentives for nature conservation. Nonetheless, as previous chapters have shown, there are many examples of environmentally unfriendly ecotourism practices. It is imperative to mitigate any negative impacts of ecotourism not only for ecological reasons but also to enhance social and economic sustainability. The objective of this chapter is to provide a list of best practices based on the evidence discussed in previous chapters. Greater awareness of such practices will enable tourism operators and managers to make informed decisions for the benefit of both the wildlife that people wish to see and the human communities that are fortunate enough to share these natural resources.

Creating a Research-Based Agenda to Reduce Ecotourism Impacts on Wildlife

Reducing ecotourism’s impacts on wildlife requires an evidence-based research agenda that recognizes both the magnitude and effect of anthropogenic stressors on wildlife while also recognizing the value of ecotourism to local communities. We suggest that operators and ecotourists themselves can play a vital role in collecting evidence that can be used to study impacts. We suggest a number of research questions that will benefit from more detailed study. Ultimately, we hope that such information can be used to create genuinely sustainable ecotourism that benefits both humans and nature.