Thompson Bill
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, 120 Bayview Parkway, Newmarket, ON, Canada,
Environ Manage. 2015 May;55(5):1181-90. doi: 10.1007/s00267-015-0458-4. Epub 2015 Mar 27.
Recreational disturbance associated with trails has been identified as one of the major factors causing a decline of native biodiversity within protected areas. However, despite the negative impacts that recreation can have on biodiversity, providing public access to nature is critical for the future of the conservation of biodiversity. As such, many protected area managers are looking for tools to help maintain a balance between public access and biodiversity conservation. The objectives of this study were to examine the impacts of recreational trails on forest-dwelling bird communities in eastern North America, identify functional guilds which are particularly sensitive to recreational trails, and derive guidelines for trail design to assist in managing the impacts of recreational trails on forest-dwelling birds. Trails within 24 publicly owned natural areas were mapped, and breeding bird communities were described with the use of point count surveys. The density of forest birds, particularly of those species which nest or forage on the ground, were significantly positively influenced by the amount of trail-free refuge habitat. Although management options to control trail use in non-staffed protected areas are limited, this study suggests that protected area managers could design and maintain a trail network that would minimize impacts on resident wildlife, while providing recreational opportunities for visitors, by designing their trail network to maximize the area of trail-free habitat.
与步道相关的游憩干扰已被确认为导致保护区内本地生物多样性下降的主要因素之一。然而，尽管游憩活动可能对生物多样性产生负面影响，但让公众接触自然对于生物多样性保护的未来至关重要。因此，许多保护区管理者正在寻找工具，以帮助在公众进入和生物多样性保护之间保持平衡。本研究的目的是调查北美东部游憩步道对森林鸟类群落的影响，确定对游憩步道特别敏感的功能类群，并得出步道设计指南，以协助管理游憩步道对森林鸟类的影响。绘制了24个公有自然区域内的步道地图，并通过点计数调查描述了繁殖鸟类群落。森林鸟类的密度，特别是那些在地面筑巢或觅食的物种，受到无步道避难栖息地面积的显著正向影响。尽管在非工作人员管理的保护区限制步道使用的管理选择有限，但本研究表明，保护区管理者可以通过设计步道网络以最大化无步道栖息地面积，来设计和维护一个步道网络，该网络既能将对当地野生动物的影响降至最低，又能为游客提供游憩机会。
