Department of Biological Sciences, Arkansas Tech University, 1701 North Boulder Avenue, McEver Hall, Russellville, AR, 72801, USA.
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA.
J Environ Manage. 2018 Dec 1;227:55-61. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.08.080. Epub 2018 Aug 29.
State parks serve an important dual role in conservation by balancing wildlife management and recreation activities by park visitors. However, research in recreation ecology on the collective impacts of non-consumptive recreation, environmental factors, and trail design has been sparse. We modeled the influences of non-consumptive trail use, vegetation communities, habitat structure, climate, and trail design on avian communities in four Arkansas State parks. Our results suggested that non-consumptive trail use, environmental factors, and trail design may have collective influences on avian communities. Trailside vegetation structure and aspects of trail design had stronger effects on park avian communities than non-consumptive trail use. Our findings suggest that trail design and environmental factors may play a larger role in shaping avian communities in areas where non-consumptive trail use rates are low. In order to manage the coexistence of flora and fauna with human recreation effectively, park managers should employ decision frameworks that collectively consider the effects from anthropogenic and environmental variables.
州立公园在保护方面发挥着重要的双重作用，平衡了野生动物管理和游客的娱乐活动。然而，在非消耗性娱乐、环境因素和步道设计对集体影响的休闲生态学研究还很匮乏。我们在阿肯色州的四个州立公园中对非消耗性步道使用、植被群落、栖息地结构、气候和步道设计对鸟类群落的影响进行了建模。结果表明，非消耗性步道使用、环境因素和步道设计可能对鸟类群落产生共同影响。步道旁的植被结构和步道设计的某些方面对公园鸟类群落的影响大于非消耗性步道使用。我们的研究结果表明，在非消耗性步道使用率较低的地区，步道设计和环境因素可能在塑造鸟类群落方面发挥更大的作用。为了有效地管理动植物与人类娱乐的共存，公园管理者应该采用集体考虑人为和环境变量影响的决策框架。
