To Visit or Not to Visit

To visit or not to visit: the effects of ecotourism on animal biodiversity

            Have you ever wanted to go on a wild African safari? Visit the jungles of Thailand? Explore the Great Barrier Reef? These destinations are a new alternative of tourism known as ecotourism. Ecotourism involves visiting exotic, relatively undisturbed natural areas and observing wildlife. Ecotourism has proved to have a plethora of positive effects on the area, including funding for conservation, establishment of private reserves, and switching communal land use from consumption to conservation. However, it is important to note that ecotourism can have its negative effects as well. Species in these areas can suffer direct ecological impacts from ecotourism. The rapid rise of ecotourism has caused a push for conservation biologist to try to identify the possible damage that ecotourism can have on animal biodiversity.  

The primary goal to conserve biological diversity is to minimize species extinction. I mean after all who would not want the opportunity to see these exquisite and unique animals? A population viability analysis (PVA) is a mathematical model that assesses the risks a species can potentially face in the wild. Some factors that contribute to a PVA are the starting population size, birth and death rates, and weather, just to name a few. To calculate the net effects of ecotourism on expected time to extinction a PVA is used. The lucky species that were chosen for this analysis are the cheetah, hoolock gibbon, golden lion tamarin, orangutan, and the New Zealand sea lion. The PVA used for these species incorporated the effects of ecotourism impacts and ecotourism funding for conservation, at three different intensity levels.

The results of each species varied highly. Unfortunately, the New Zealand sea lions seemed to suffer the most due to ecotourism. Not surprisingly, the New Zealand sea lion started with a low population size to begin with due to intense fisheries. The study found that the net effect of ecotourism would actually cause the decline of the population to decrease even more rapidly. The reason for this decline is because that ecotourism and fish hatcheries increased the rate of pup mortality. To add ecotourism to this very fragile habitat would cause the population to go extinct altogether. So unfortunately, it would be a better idea to steer clear of these poor pups habitat and find a different ecotourism destination.

            On the bright side, not all the results were bad. It appeared as if the average effect of ecotourism on these selected species were actually quite positive. The cheetah appeared to have an increase in population size due to ecotourism. The mechanism attributed to this increase was that ecotourism provided a larger, private reserve with high prey density and no predators. A similar result was seen with the hoolock gibbon and golden lion tamarin. The populations were expected to decrease with zero or low levels of ecotourism. However, the populations increased with moderate or higher levels of ecotourism. The principle ecological mechanism that this result can be attributed to is habitat restoration through ecotourism. For the orangutan the different ecotourism intensities made the difference between life and death. At zero to low levels of ecotourism, the orangutan population was expected to go extinct. Surprisingly, the population remained stable at moderate levels, and increased at high levels. In this way, you can be relieved to spend your vacation in the orangutan’s habitat knowing that you are helping the species to survive.

            After viewing the results for this study it is safe to say that the average effect of ecotourism on species population was surprisingly a positive one. At first glance, it would appear that ecotourism would destroy the habitats that species relied on when in fact it actually enhances their preservation. It doesn’t seem like we often get a mechanism that is both ecologically beneficial and economically. This study seems to be a success story for ecotourism, so go take that vacation you’ve always been dreaming of, and rest easy at night knowing you could be a critical key in helping to preserve the habitat and therefore an endangered species in the area.