Mallikage Shashini Tara, Perera Priyan, Newsome David, Bandara Rangika, Simpson Greg
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.
Environmental and Conservation Sciences, College of Science, Health, Engineering, and Education, Murdoch University, South St., Murdoch WA 6150, Australia.
Trop Life Sci Res. 2021 Sep;32(3):119-145. doi: 10.21315/tlsr2021.32.3.7. Epub 2021 Sep 30.
Camping is a popular activity in the contemporary nature-based tourism domain and rapidly gaining momentum as a key recreational activity in Sri Lanka's national parks (NPs). Recreational uses such as camping in natural areas can induce significant and often localised resource impacts that can affect soil, vegetation, wildlife and water, with the severity of such impacts varying according to the intensity of use. Hence, monitoring of the biophysical conditions of campsites has become an important component in the reserve management agenda in many places, especially in developed countries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the biophysical impacts associated with the recreation ecology of camping in Sri Lanka. Ten campsites from three dry zone NPs were selected to assess biophysical impacts of camping activities. Field measurements were based on the fixed radial transect method. Gathered data included the total area of the campsite, erosion potential measured as the area of exposed soil (devoid of vegetation or organic litter), number of exposed roots and human damage to trees, number of fireplaces/ fire scars on the ground, visual counts of litter, soil compaction measured by penetrometer, loss of woody debris. This study reports significant levels of environmental degradation related to all the indictors of biophysical impacts at both high and low use campsites. There was no evidence for any difference in the level of environmental degradation associated with high and low use campsites. The loss of natural values associated with campsites negatively impacted visitors' nature-based experience. These findings highlight the importance of managing biophysical impacts in campsites to provide a high-quality visitor experience, while sustainably managing tourism activities in NPs.
露营是当代自然旅游领域中一项受欢迎的活动，并且作为斯里兰卡国家公园的一项主要休闲活动正在迅速发展。在自然区域进行露营等休闲活动会造成重大且往往是局部的资源影响，这些影响可能会波及土壤、植被、野生动物和水源，而且此类影响的严重程度会因使用强度的不同而有所差异。因此，对露营地生物物理状况的监测已成为许多地方，尤其是发达国家保护区管理议程中的一个重要组成部分。据我们所知，这是第一项研究斯里兰卡露营休闲生态相关生物物理影响的研究。从三个干旱地区国家公园选取了十个露营地，以评估露营活动的生物物理影响。实地测量采用固定径向样带法。收集的数据包括露营地的总面积、以裸露土壤面积（无植被或有机凋落物）衡量的侵蚀潜力、裸露树根数量和树木受人为破坏情况、地面上的壁炉/火烧痕迹数量、垃圾目视计数、用贯入仪测量的土壤压实度、木质碎屑损失量。本研究报告称，在高使用量和低使用量的露营地，与生物物理影响的所有指标相关的环境退化程度都很高。没有证据表明高使用量和低使用量露营地的环境退化程度存在差异。与露营地相关的自然价值丧失对游客基于自然的体验产生了负面影响。这些发现凸显了管理露营地生物物理影响对于提供高质量游客体验以及可持续管理国家公园旅游活动的重要性。
