Ecotourist trail‐use affects the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of mammals in a protected area: lessons for conservation management

作者：Boyu Lei, Zhenfei ZHENG, Jifa Cui, Jin Zhao, Chris Newman, Youbing Zhou · 发表于：Integrative Zoology · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1111/1749-4877.12688 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Wildlife Ecology and Conservation、Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation、Species Distribution and Climate Change

Ecotourism, by definition, aims to engage peoples' interest in wildlife and the environment. The use of tourist roads and trails to access sites within protected areas (PAs) can detrimentally affect the behavior and distribution of species. The way mammals respond to anthropogenic pressures may differ across taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic groups; nevertheless, how ecotourist trail-use affects these different diversity remains under-investigated. Here, we assessed 6 metrics of taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity for a mammal community in a PA in central China, recording how Trail use (using Trail type as a proxy) and habitat variables affected sightings and signs of mammals across 60 replicate 0.5 km transects. We then examined how Trail use affected the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity indices of species (>1 kg). Using generalized liner mixed modeling, we identified that more used trail types had a greater adverse effect on all diversity richness indices than did less used trail types. Consequently, tourist pressure was associated with a general tendency to homogenize the site's mammal community. In contrast, the effects of Trail Types on all diversity evenness indices were non-significant. Furthermore, more developed and more heavily used trail types had a greater, significant negative effect on taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic richness, whereas these richness indices were unaffected by minor trail types, used less intensively. ...