Search Results (14)

This article works on the interdisciplinary grounds of phenomenology and ecology, analyzing and dialoguing with the thought of preservationist Freeman Tilden, to provide the hitherto underutilized concept of interpretation as an avenue for addressing current ecological crises. This analysis provides data for the phenomenologist to enter their own dialogue with Tilden on eco-philosophy. The article concludes with the story of a pebble, exploring from a different angle the process and import of the writing of this article, contextualized ethnographically from the position of the author’s own double-employment as a scholar of aesthetics, and interpretive park ranger. Full article

Poás Volcano made a magmatic eruption in April 2017. The volcanic outburst resulted in an ash and vapor column towering over three kilometers high. Since that time, there has been a continual release of gases, aerosols, and more recently, ash, posing potential issues for visitors and park rangers. In this work, the potential for exposure to acid gases and aerosols faced by park rangers, officials, and visitors to the Poás Volcano National Park was evaluated, and the concentrations found were compared with the exposure limits established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The study was conducted between October 2021 and November 2022. the concentrations of HCl(g), HNO₃(ac), HF(g), and H₂SO₄(ac) were determined at three strategic points: the ranger station, the visitor center, and the main crater viewpoint. The maximum concentrations obtained were (7.0 ± 1.6) ppb for HCl(g), (6.2 ± 2.8) ppb for HNO₃(ac), and (0.029 ± 0.044) ppm for H₂SO₄(ac). There were no concentration values above the detection limit (0.94 μg/m³) for HF_(g). By comparing the data obtained with similar studies, it is concluded that the measured values in Poás Volcano National Park are low and only show similarities to the results found in volcanoes within the national territory. The exposure limit established by OSHA (0.02 ppm) was only surpassed by H₂SO_4(ac), and could be the cause of health effects experienced over the years by park rangers. To minimize these risks, the use of personal protective equipment and air quality monitoring is essential. Full article

Invasive alien species control is recognized worldwide as a priority action to preserve global biodiversity. However, a lack of general life history knowledge for threatened species can impede the effectiveness of conservation actions. Galápagos pink land iguanas (Conolophus marthae) are endemic to Wolf Volcano, Galápagos, Ecuador. These iguanas are threatened by invasive alien species, particularly feral cats, that may affect their small population size. To guarantee the long-term survival of C. marthae, the Galápagos National Park Directorate is considering, along with an ongoing campaign of feral cat control, the implementation of a head-start program. However, the success of this management strategy necessarily relies on the identification of pink iguana nesting grounds, which were still unknown at the onset of this study. We modeled the movement patterns of male and female iguanas during the reproductive season, using location data collected from custom-made remote tracking devices installed on adult pink iguanas in April 2021. We first calculated for each individual the vector of distances from its starting location, which was defined as net displacement. We then used net displacement as the response variable in a generalized additive mixed model with day of the year as the predictor. Based on the hypothesis that males and females may behaviorally differ after mating, we looked for female-specific migratory behavior suggesting females were moving toward nesting areas. The results obtained confirmed our hypothesis, as females exhibited a distinct migratory behavior, reaching a small plateau area inside of Wolf Volcano’s caldera and ca. 400 m below the volcano’s northern rim. Moreover, once inside the caldera, females displayed a more aggregated distribution pattern. The movement data obtained allowed Galápagos National Park rangers to locate individual pink iguana nests and subsequently to sight and collect the first observed hatchlings of the species. This work constitutes a necessary baseline to perform dedicated studies of pink iguana nests and emerging hatchling iguanas, which is an essential step toward the development of an effective head-start program. Full article

The eastern region of Bolivia is of high conservation interest due to the presence of the Chiquitano Dry Forest, Dry Chaco, Pantanal and Cerrado ecoregions. However, this region is under high pressure from various anthropogenic threats, which requires continuous monitoring. An alternative for this monitoring is the use of mobile applications designed under the concept of citizen science, in which local stakeholders are part of the process of obtaining information and finding solutions to environmental problems in their territories. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the information obtained during environmental monitoring with a citizen science approach in the eastern region of Bolivia. We developed a public electronic form for the ArcGIS Survey123 mobile application to capture spatial data of nine thematic variables. Between 2021 and 2023, we conducted 16 training courses in 12 population centers, with attendees from 98 communities in 6 municipalities in the region. A total of 360 volunteers from different sectors participated in the training, including technicians from public and private institutions, park rangers, community representatives and citizens. We obtained a total of 379 records, of which 70.4% were recorded near communities and the rest within protected areas. The results were reclassified and grouped into three clusters: human activities, water resources and biodiversity. In the human activities cluster, the categories with the highest number of records were wildfires and deforestation. In the water resources cluster, the categories with the most records were cattle waterholes and streams, but one of the most notable records was the reduction of wetlands in a sector of the Bolivian Pantanal. In the biodiversity cluster, the main reports were for mammals, and among the most notable records obtained were the footprints of the jaguar (Panthera onca). This monitoring tool made it possible to generate and use high-quality information in different sites in the eastern region in almost real time, which could help strengthen the interactions and relationship with users in environmental dialogue and governance processes. Full article

Primates are some of the most cognitively advanced species held in zoos, and their interactions with visitors are complex. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to understand the impact of zoo visitors on animals, in comparison to “empty zoos”. This study sought to understand the impact of facility closures and subsequent reopenings on behavioural and physiological parameters of welfare in four primate species housed in the UK: bonobos (Pan paniscus) (n = 8), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) (n = 11), and western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) (n = 6) held at Twycross Zoo (TZ); and olive baboons (Papio anubis) (n = 192) held at Knowsley Safari (KS). Behavioural data were collected from April–September 2020 (KS) and November 2020–January 2021 (TZ). Faecal samples were collected during morning checks from October–November (TZ) and July–November 2020 (KS). Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) were measured using ELISA kits. Statistical analysis for behavioural observations was undertaken using general linear models. Enclosure usage was assessed using t-tests and Mann–Whitney U-tests as appropriate. Bonobos and gorillas spent less time alone when facilities were open to the public (p = 0.004, p = 0.02 respectively). Gorillas spent less time resting when the facility was open to the public (p = 0.04), and chimpanzees engaged in more feeding (p = 0.02) and engagement with enrichment (p = 0.03) when the zoo was open to the public than when it was closed. Olive baboons performed less sexual and dominance behaviour and approached visitor cars more frequently when the safari park was opened to the public than they did the ranger’s vehicle during closure periods. There were no significant changes in physiological parameters for any of the study species. The results suggest variable impacts of the zoo closures on zoo-housed primates. We recommend future work that seeks to understand the impact of individual-level differences on “visitor effects” and that differences between animal experiences in zoos and safari parks are further explored in a range of species. Full article

Iceland has experienced rapid increases in tourism in recent years. This growth earns economic applause, but can come at considerable environmental cost. As Iceland’s unique environment is a drawcard for many tourists, careful management of destinations to ensure a sustainable environment is critical. The Icelandic Government is aware of the need for effective destination management and planning to ensure a sustainable future for tourism development, and the need to couple this with visitor compliance. It is a development that cannot be divorced from the need for environmental sustainability, and responsibility for this lies with all tourism stakeholders. One management tool to assist with such responsibility and compliance in tourism is interpretation: creating and delivering messages to visitors that enhance not only their satisfaction with an experience but also their understanding of it. This paper is based on an evaluation of visitors’ experiences and managers’ perceptions, as is necessary to ensure visitor satisfaction, while determining how best to maintain a sustainable environment. By observing and interviewing visitors, guides, rangers, and managers at Ásbyrgi in the northernmost part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, we were able to discover what sort of information park visitors want to receive, what park managers want to convey, and the preferred way to deliver that information. Overall, most visitors and guides were satisfied with the interpretation in Ásbyrgi and preferred information provided verbally by guides or rangers over other types, such as on signs or in electronic format. Visitors want information about the unique geology and cultural history, as well as directional instructions for hiking trails. Managers want to create an accessible space in which visitors comply with instructions about safety and environmental sustainability. These findings can assist tourism management in Ásbyrgi, and other nature-based destinations, particularly in terms of sustainability of the natural environment. Full article

In the various protected areas such as nature reserves and national parks in Vietnam, ranger patrols are crucial for protecting forest resources against the increasing threats from fringe communities. Previous studies have investigated ranger patrol efforts (RPEs) in conservation areas using conventional measures in terms of illegal activities encountered, but there has been little research into indices related to RPEs in the field, both worldwide and particularly in Vietnam. This paper explores various indices of RPEs and other aspects of forest patrolling at a local level. The number of rangers and patrol-days strongly influences the distance walked and the number of patrol-hours. However, neither the rainy season nor the Lunar New Year festival had any significant effect on patrol efforts, nor was there any effect on the relative altitude covered or the speed of patrolling during the long Lunar New Year vacation. Management responsible for protecting forest areas needs to consider the full scope of rangers’ efforts and identify the qualities of motivated staff. Our findings suggested ways in which rangers’ capacity to promote conservation may be assessed in the future. Full article

Risk perception, together with the adoption of measures to prevent tick bites, may strongly influence human exposure to ticks and transmitted pathogens. We created a questionnaire to evaluate how people perceive the health risk posed by ticks in an area recently invaded by these arthropods, in the western Italian Alps. Moreover, through a collaborative effort with park rangers and physicians, we investigated which tick species bite humans and their infection with pathogens (Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and spotted-fever group Rickettsiae). Apart from two Dermacentor marginatus bites, we identified Ixodes ricinus (n = 124) as the main species responsible for tick bites. The investigated pathogens infected 25.4% of tested I. ricinus. The evaluation of the engorgement rate of biting I. ricinus revealed that they had been likely feeding on humans for 24 h or more, suggesting a high probability of pathogen transmission. Indeed, the questionnaires revealed that people infrequently adopt preventive measures, such as inspecting the body for ticks, although most respondents claimed that ticks are a threat to human health. Having suffered from previous tick bites was positively associated with the adoption of personal protection measures. Given the increasing incidence of tick-borne diseases in the region, the public should be better informed about the possibility of being bitten by infected ticks in order to mitigate the risk. Full article

Equitable access to communication and education is a key aspect in ensuring sustainability in any natural area. Karst landscapes are especially susceptible to environmental degradation from natural and anthropogenic forces and can benefit from sustainable economic, social, and environmental practices. This study took place in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park (PN-KB), a highly developed karst landscape in central Vietnam. Through in-depth interviews, this study explored the ways in which formal and informal communication networks between the diverse stakeholders living within the park can be used to better protect the landscape from further degradation. The research findings suggest that a lack of consistent communication between PN-KB’s residents, rangers, and governing officials has left the landscape vulnerable to extensive degradation and susceptible to catastrophic climatic events. Increasing communication between the stakeholder groups within the park will bolster economic opportunity and ensure equitable access to information and resources, both of which will promote sustainable practices and karst landscape protection. Full article

The sustainable use of Native American heritage places is viewed in this analysis as serving to preserve their traditional purposes and sustaining the cultural landscapes that give them heritage meaning. The research concerns the potential impacts of heritage tourism to selected Native American places at Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Hovenweep National Monument. The impacts of tourists on a heritage place must be understood as having both potential effects on the place itself and on an integrated cultural landscape. Impacts to one place potentially change other places. Their functions in a Native American landscape, and the integrity of the landscape itself. The analysis is based on 696 interviews with representatives from nine tribes and pueblos, who, in addition to defining the cultural meaning of places, officially made 349 heritage management recommendations. The U.S. National Park Service interprets Natives American resources and then brings millions of tourists to these through museums, brochures, outdoor displays, and ranger-guided tours. Native American ethnographic study participants argued that tourist education and regulation can increase the sustainability of Native American places in a park and can help protect related places beyond the park. Full article

Cultural sites are particularly important to Indigenous peoples, their identity, cosmology and sociopolitical traditions. The benefits of local control, and a lack of professional resources, necessitate the development of planning tools that support independent Indigenous cultural site adaptation. We devised and tested a methodology for non-heritage professionals to analyse options that address site loss, build site resilience and build local adaptive capacity. Indigenous rangers from Kakadu National Park and the Djelk Indigenous Protected Area, Arnhem Land, Australia, were engaged as fellow researchers via a participatory action research methodology. Rangers rejected coastal defences and relocating sites, instead prioritising routine use of a risk field survey, documentation of vulnerable sites using new digital technologies and widely communicating the climate change vulnerability of sites via a video documentary. Results support the view that rigorous approaches to cultural site adaptation can be employed independently by local Indigenous stakeholders. Full article

Real-time identification of wildlife is an upcoming and promising tool for the preservation of wildlife. In this research project, we aimed to use object detection and image classification for the racer snakes of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. The final target of this project was to build an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, in terms of a web or mobile application, which would serve as a real-time decision making and supporting mechanism for the visitors and park rangers of the Galápagos Islands, to correctly identify a snake species from the user’s uploaded image. Using the deep learning and machine learning algorithms and libraries, we modified and successfully implemented four region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) architectures (models for image classification): Inception V2, ResNet, MobileNet, and VGG16. Inception V2, ResNet and VGG16 reached an overall accuracy of 75%. Full article

This paper focuses on Australian Indigenous rock art tourism, a field that has received limited research attention. Our aim is to identify aspects which are invisible in tourism promotions. We note trends in rock art tourism and related research, survey the Australian situation, and employ a case study approach to outline the development of Indigenous rock art tourism in Kakadu National Park (KNP) and parts of the Quinkan (Laura Cooktown) region. In both regions, Aboriginal communities inherited legacies of top down decision-making and bureaucratic methods. Although the Laura people transitioned to a community-based system and a successful ranger program, they face challenges in achieving their aspirations for sustainable rock art tourism. KNP communities, subsumed into an unwieldy joint management arrangement for the World Heritage listed National Park, are faced with competing values and perspectives of the dominant government system. A centerpiece of the Balnggarrawarra tourism initiative is the ranger/tour guide system of the type which operated for some years at Laura and was introduced briefly at KNP. The model incorporates key elements of sustainable Indigenous tourism–traditional owner control and jobs, land care, conservation, cultural preservation, partnerships, and public education. Notwithstanding contemporary challenges and realities, a unifying theme is caring for rock art. Full article

Previous studies have reported the negative impacts of tourism on nonhuman primates (NHPs) and tourists and advocated the improvement of tourism management, yet what constitutes good quality management remains unclear. We explored whether rates of macaque aggression and self-directed behaviors (SDBs) differed under the supervision of two park ranger teams at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys (VWM) in Mt. Huangshan, Anhui Province, China. The two ranger teams provisioned and managed a group of macaques on an alternating monthly basis. Monkey, tourist and ranger behaviors were collected from August 16–September 30, 2012. Macaque aggression and SDB rates did not differ significantly under the management of the two teams. Overall, there was little intervention in tourist-macaque interactions by park rangers, and even when rangers discouraged tourists’ undesirable behaviors, tourist interactions with monkeys persisted. Furthermore, only one or sometimes two park rangers managed monkeys and tourists, and rangers established dominance over the monkeys to control them. In order to effectively manage tourists and monkeys by a single park ranger, we recommend that rangers: (1) prohibit tourists from feeding; (2) move around the viewing platform more frequently; and (3) limit the number of tourists each visiting session. Full article