scholarly journals Productivity of Black Oystercatchers: Effects of Recreational Disturbance in a National Park

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Morse ◽  
Abby N. Powell ◽  
Michael D. Tetreau
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Recreational Disturbance ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Daily Survival ◽  
Breeding Territory ◽  
Annual Productivity ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
Territory Occupancy

Abstract National parks in Alaska are generally assumed to be high-quality, undisturbed wildlife habitats. However, these parks attract recreational users, whose presence may reduce the suitability of key habitats for nesting shorebirds. In Kenai Fjords National Park, Black Oystercatchers (Haematopus bachmani) often breed on gravel beaches that are also popular campsites. In this study, we examined the effects of recreational activities in coastal Alaska on reproductive performance of Black Oystercatchers. We monitored survival of nests and chicks on 35 to 39 breeding territories annually during four breeding seasons (2001–2004). Most recreational disturbance on these territories occurred after the peak hatching date of first clutches. Annual productivity was low (average of 0.35 chicks per pair), but was not strongly affected by recreational disturbance. Daily survival of nests varied annually and declined over the season. Our results suggest that nest survival was lower during periods of extreme high tides. Daily survival rate of broods increased over the season and was higher on island than mainland territories, likely due to differences in predator communities. Territory occupancy rate and site fidelity were high; 95% of color-banded oystercatchers returned to the same breeding territory in the subsequent year. We conclude that Black Oystercatchers are resilient to low levels of recreational disturbance. However, in light of projected increases in recreation, we suggest managers move campsites away from the traditional nest sites identified in this study to minimize future disturbances.

Understanding the impacts of recreation in Australian protected areas: Quantifying damage caused by horse riding in D'Entrecasteaux National Park, Western Australia

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 256 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Phillips ◽  
D. Newsome
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
National Park ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Bare Ground ◽  
Horse Riding ◽  
Hard Evidence ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Western Australian

There is presently very little published quantitative information on the environmental impacts of recreational horse riding. Particularly in Western Australia the lack of "hard evidence" concerning the environmental impacts of horse riding hinders objective judgement of damage caused by horse riding in national parks. This paper presents data on horse riding impacts in a Western Australian (D'Entrecasteaux) national park. The research measured vegetation and soil impacts caused by horse use in un-tracked areas with the specific aim of relating the amount of horse use to degree of environmental impact. Horse riding altered plant species composition, increased the area of bare ground and decreased height and cover of vegetation. Significant impacts occurred after only low levels of horse use. The findings indicate the need for a database on horse riding impact in Australia so that, where horse riding is allowed, impacts can be properly assessed and effectively managed.

Assessing conservation tools for an at-risk shorebird: Feasibility of headstarting for American Oystercatchers Haematopus palliatus

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAMANTHA A. COLLINS ◽  
FELICIA J. SANDERS ◽  
PATRICK G. R. JODICE
Keyword(s):  
Survival Rates ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Chick Survival ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Attendance Patterns ◽  
Daily Survival ◽  
Annual Productivity ◽  
Haematopus Palliatus ◽  
Eastern Usa ◽  
Artificial Incubation

SummaryManagement of threatened and endangered populations of wildlife increasingly relies upon active intervention such as predator control, habitat manipulation, and ex situ breeding or care. One tool that has received consideration for the management of declining or threatened avian populations is headstarting, or the artificial incubation of eggs and subsequent placement of newly hatched chicks in original or foster nests. We assessed the feasibility of implementing a headstarting program for the American Oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus, a species of high conservation concern in the eastern USA. Annual productivity is often low and lost during incubation, suggesting artificial incubation could enhance annual productivity. We used a control-impact approach to assign nests as either control or headstart and measured daily survival rate, success of parents accepting headstarted chicks, attendance patterns and behaviours of parents, and chick survival. We also implemented a transparent scoring process to rate the success of each step and the overall program. Daily survival rates of nests were significantly higher at headstart compared to control nests, and parents continued to incubate when eggs were well secured at nest sites. Attendance patterns and behaviour did not differ between headstart and control parents, and parents readily accepted healthy chicks whether they were returned to original or foster nests. Chick survival and subsequently annual productivity were, however, not higher at headstart compared to control nests suggesting that although we were able to enhance nest survival, low chick survival was still limiting annual productivity. Ultimately, headstarting may be most appropriate for American Oystercatchers where productivity is lost primarily to flooding, predation, or disturbance during the incubation stage but not during the chick-rearing stage. If, for example, high rates of nest loss are due to predators that also may prey upon chicks, then headstarting may not be an effective conservation tool.

From Competition to Cooperation: A History of Canada–US National Park Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Young ◽  
Alan MacEachern ◽  
Lary Dilsaver
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
The Relationship

This essay explores the evolving international relationship of the two national park agencies that in 1968 began to offer joint training classes for protected-area managers from around the world. Within the British settler societies that dominated nineteenth century park-making, the United States’ National Park Service (NPS) and Canada’s National Parks Branch were the most closely linked and most frequently cooperative. Contrary to campfire myths and nationalist narratives, however, the relationship was not a one-way flow of information and motivation from the US to Canada. Indeed, the latter boasted a park bureaucracy before the NPS was established. The relationship of the two nations’ park leaders in the half century leading up to 1968 demonstrates the complexity of defining the influences on park management and its diffusion from one country to another.

Into Russian Nature

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D. Roe
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
National Parks ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
National Park ◽  
World War ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
Development Goals

Into Russian Nature examines the history of the Russian national park movement. Russian biologists and geographers had been intrigued with the idea of establishing national parks before the Great October Revolution but pushed the Soviet government successfully to establish nature reserves (zapovedniki) during the USSR’s first decades. However, as the state pushed scientists to make zapovedniki more “useful” during the 1930s, some of the system’s staunchest defenders started supporting tourism in them. In the decades after World War II, the USSR experienced a tourism boom and faced a chronic shortage of tourism facilities. Also during these years, Soviet scientists took active part in Western-dominated international environmental protection organizations, where they became more familiar with national parks. In turn, they enthusiastically promoted parks for the USSR as a means to reconcile environmental protection and economic development goals, bring international respect to Soviet nature protection efforts, and help instill a love for the country’s nature and a desire to protect it in Russian/Soviet citizens. By the late 1980s, their supporters pushed transformative, and in some cases quixotic, park proposals. At the same time, national park opponents presented them as an unaffordable luxury during a time of economic struggle, especially after the USSR’s collapse. Despite unprecedented collaboration with international organizations, Russian national parks received little governmental support as they became mired in land-use conflicts with local populations. While the history of Russia’s national parks illustrates a bold attempt at reform, the state’s failure’s to support them has left Russian park supporters deeply disillusioned.

scholarly journals Values of Travel Time for Recreational Trips under Different Behavioural Rules

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6831
Author(s):  
Rosa Marina González ◽  
Concepción Román ◽  
Ángel Simón Marrero
Keyword(s):  
Travel Time ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
National Park ◽  
Revealed Preference ◽  
Discrete Choice Models ◽  
Model Specification ◽  
Regret Minimization ◽  
Random Regret Minimization

In this study, discrete choice models that combine different behavioural rules are estimated to study the visitors’ preferences in relation to their travel mode choices to access a national park. Using a revealed preference survey conducted on visitors of Teide National Park (Tenerife, Spain), we present a hybrid model specification—with random parameters—in which we assume that some attributes are evaluated by the individuals under conventional random utility maximization (RUM) rules, whereas others are evaluated under random regret minimization (RRM) rules. We then compare the results obtained using exclusively a conventional RUM approach to those obtained using both RUM and RRM approaches, derive monetary valuations of the different components of travel time and calculate direct elasticity measures. Our results provide useful instruments to evaluate policies that promote the use of more sustainable modes of transport in natural sites. Such policies should be considered as priorities in many national parks, where negative transport externalities such as traffic congestion, pollution, noise and accidents are causing problems that jeopardize not only the sustainability of the sites, but also the quality of the visit.

scholarly journals Start of the Green Season and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index in Alaska’s Arctic National Parks

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2554
Author(s):  
David K. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Free Surfaces ◽  
Modis Ndvi ◽  
Curve Fit ◽  
Winter Snow ◽  
Systematic Sample ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Northern Alaska

Daily Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from the MODIS Aqua and Terra satellites were compared with on-the-ground camera observations at five locations in northern Alaska. Over half of the spring rise in NDVI was due to the transition from the snow-covered landscape to the snow-free surface prior to the deciduous leaf-out. In the fall after the green season, NDVI fluctuated between an intermediate level representing senesced vegetation and lower values representing clouds and intermittent snow, and then dropped to constant low levels after establishment of the permanent winter snow cover. The NDVI value of snow-free surfaces after fall leaf senescence was estimated from multi-year data using a 90th percentile smoothing spline curve fit to a plot of daily NDVI values vs. ordinal date. This curve typically showed a flat region of intermediate NDVI values in the fall that represent cloud- and snow-free days with senesced vegetation. This “fall plateau” was readily identified in a large systematic sample of MODIS NDVI values across the study area, in typical tundra, shrub, and boreal forest environments. The NDVI level of the fall plateau can be extrapolated to the spring rising leg of the annual NDVI curve to approximate the true start of green season.

scholarly journals The Wadden Sea as a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site: Students’ Word Associations with These Two Conservation Designations

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8006
Author(s):  
Till Schmäing ◽  
Norbert Grotjohann
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Wadden Sea ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Unesco World Heritage ◽  
Word Associations ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Unesco World Heritage Site ◽  
Significant Difference

The Wadden Sea ecosystem is unique in many respects from a biological perspective. This is one reason why it is protected by national parks in Germany and by its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In biology didactics, there are only a few studies that focus on the Wadden Sea. This work investigates students’ word associations with the two stimulus words “national park” and “UNESCO World Heritage Site”. The survey was conducted among students living directly at the Wadden Sea and among students from the inland. The analysis of the identified associations (n = 8345) was carried out within the framework of a quantitative content analysis to be able to present and discuss the results on a group level. A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups. Overall, results showed that the students made subject-related associations as well as a large number of associations to both stimulus words that could be judged as non-subject-related. In some cases, a connection with the region of residence could be found, but this was not generally the case. Even students’ immediate residential proximity to the Wadden Sea is no guarantee that they have knowledge of the two considered protection terms.

scholarly journals Does a National Park Enhance the Environment-Friendliness of Tourists as an Ecotourism Destination?

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8321
Author(s):  
Eunseong Jeong ◽  
Taesoo Lee ◽  
Alan Dixon Brown ◽  
Sara Choi ◽  
Minyoung Son
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Behavioral Intention ◽  
National Park ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Environment Friendly ◽  
Sustainable Environment ◽  
The Relationship

Governments have designated national parks to protect the natural environment against ecosystem destruction and improve individuals’ emotional and recreational life. National parks enhance environment-friendly awareness by conducting ecotourism activities and individuals with environment-friendly awareness are inclined to continue to visit national parks as ecotourism destinations. The New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) is a widely used measure of environmental concern, suitable for measuring the environment-friendly attitude and revisit intention of visitors of national parks. Therefore, the study carried out structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the relationship between the NEP, national park conservation consciousness and environment-friendly behavioral intention. Based on the results, an implication is presented to induce national parks to cultivate individual environment-friendly awareness and for visitors to pursue sustainable, environment-friendly tourism behavior. The findings indicate that national parks are to expand educational programs and facilities for eco-tourists visiting national parks to maintain a balanced relationship between themselves and nature and have a strong environmental awareness to preserve the natural environment.

scholarly journals Water Quality Estimation and Population’s Attitudes: A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective of Environmental Implications in Tara National Park (Serbia)

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Jovana Brankov ◽  
Ana Milanović Pešić ◽  
Dragana Milijašević Joksimović ◽  
Milan M. Radovanović ◽  
Marko D. Petrović
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Pollution Index ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Polluted Water ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Environmental Implications ◽  
Water Pollution Index

The paper analyzes the water quality of hydrological resources in the wider area of Tara National Park (NP Tara) in Serbia and the opinions of the local community and the national park visitors about the grade of the possible damage. The pollution level of the Drina River at the Bajina Bašta hydrological station was analyzed using the Water Pollution Index. The results showed that water quality corresponded to classes II (clean water) or III (moderately polluted water) and revealed the presence of organic pollution. In addition, using a survey combined with field research, the perceptions of local inhabitants and national park visitors related to environmental pollution were analyzed. The community believed that tourism does not cause significant damage to the environment. However, the older and more educated groups of residents and visitors had a more critical perception of the environmental impact of tourism. The results also indicated that the perceptions of visitors were mostly in agreement with measured water quality in the Drina River. The findings of this study have important implications for the management of protected areas and future policies related to national parks.

Using discriminant function analysis to identify Holocene tephras based on magnetite composition: a case study from the Sunwapta Pass area, Jasper National Park

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 804-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Beaudoin ◽  
R. H. King
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Discriminant Function ◽  
Discriminant Function Analysis ◽  
National Park ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Classification Schemes ◽  
Jasper National Park ◽  
Multivariate Method ◽  
Reference Samples

The magnetite composition from three sets of samples of Mazama, St. Helens set Y, and Bridge River tephras from Jasper and Banff national parks are used to test whether discriminant function analysis can unambiguously distinguish these tephras. The multivariate method is found to be very sensitive to the change in reference samples. St. Helens set Y tephra is clearly distinguished. However, discrimination between Mazama and Bridge River tephras is less distinct. A set of unknown tephras from the Sunwapta Pass area was used to test the classification schemes. Unknown tephras are assigned to different tephra types depending on which reference tephra set is used in the discriminant function analysis.

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