Human and Biodiversity Research Lab, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000 Israel.
Human and Biodiversity Research Lab, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000 Israel.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 May 20;770:145255. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145255. Epub 2021 Jan 21.
Protected areas (PAs) are key conservation areas designed to limit the impacts of human activities on biodiversity. PAs also provide great opportunities for individuals to experience nature complexity, through recreational activities, and can contribute to restore the non-material and intangible services nature provides to people (i.e., cultural ecosystem services). However, recreational activities may negatively affect biodiversity. Identifying the right balance between promoting nature interactions and safeguarding biodiversity in PAs is challenging. Current knowledge gaps on the social value and ecological impacts of recreational activities, such as camping in PAs, hinder our ability to address this challenge. This is particularly true for PAs located in desert ecosystems. In this interdisciplinary study, we surveyed biodiversity and people to assess ecological impacts and social values of campsites in desert PAs in Israel. Ecological surveys included birds, plants, rodents and scorpions in campsites and control plots. We conducted two social surveys: (1) in situ survey of campsite users (N = 280) on satisfaction, motivations and perceptions of campsites and (2) online nation-wide survey (N = 322) on perceptions of campsites and investigation of the attributes individuals prioritize in campsites. Our results demonstrate that when desert campsites are located outside nature-rich areas (i.e. the wadis), they have relatively moderate negative impact on biodiversity for three out of the four taxa studied (birds, scorpions and rodents). Bird communities were dominated by synanthropic species in high intensity campsites. Surprisingly, even when campsites were located in nature-poor areas, users' satisfaction was relatively high. Among the broader population, ecological quality (i.e. vegetation complexity) did not have strong influence on people's preferences of/for campsites, and comfort-related aspects were prioritized over vegetation in campsites. Overall, our results demonstrate that placing desert campsites outside ecologically rich areas can serve as optimal solution to balance impacts on biodiversity and social value of recreation activities in PAs.
保护区（PAs）是为限制人类活动对生物多样性的影响而设计的关键保护区。保护区也为个人提供了通过娱乐活动体验自然复杂性的绝佳机会，并有助于恢复自然为人类提供的非物质和无形服务（即文化生态系统服务）。然而，娱乐活动可能会对生物多样性产生负面影响。在保护区中，促进人与自然的互动和保护生物多样性之间找到正确的平衡是具有挑战性的。目前，关于娱乐活动（例如在保护区露营）的社会价值和生态影响的知识差距，阻碍了我们应对这一挑战的能力。对于位于沙漠生态系统中的保护区来说，情况尤其如此。在这项跨学科研究中，我们调查了生物多样性和人类，以评估以色列沙漠保护区露营地的生态影响和社会价值。生态调查包括鸟类、植物、啮齿动物和蝎子在露营地和对照区的情况。我们进行了两项社会调查：（1）在露营地现场对 280 名露营者进行调查，了解他们对露营地的满意度、动机和看法；（2）在全国范围内进行在线调查（N=322），了解人们对露营地的看法，并调查个人在露营地中优先考虑的属性。我们的研究结果表明，当沙漠露营地位于自然丰富的地区（即瓦迪）之外时，对于研究的四个分类群中的三个（鸟类、蝎子和啮齿动物），它们对生物多样性的负面影响相对较小。鸟类群落以高度密集的营地中的城市适应物种为主。令人惊讶的是，即使露营地位于自然贫瘠的地区，用户的满意度也相对较高。在更广泛的人群中，生态质量（即植被复杂性）对人们对露营地的偏好没有强烈影响，而露营地中的舒适性相关方面比植被更受重视。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，将沙漠露营地放置在生态丰富的地区之外，可以作为平衡保护区内生物多样性和娱乐活动社会价值的最佳解决方案。
