Fitness effects of ecotourism on an endangered carnivore

Abstract

Nature‐based recreational and tourism activities can exert significant direct and indirect impacts on wildlife, through behavioral, physiological and distributional changes. Despite many studies demonstrating such changes, few attempts have been made to quantify the fitness consequences and evaluate their biological significance. Helagsfjällen in Sweden is a core area of the endangered Fennoscandian arctic fox Vulpes lagopus, and a popular area for recreational tourism. Some dens in the area experience daily disturbance from tourism during the summer season, while others are virtually undisturbed. We used a long‐term dataset (2008–2017) of 553 juveniles in 74 litters to investigate summer juvenile survival, which is an important fitness component for the arctic fox. We found that the mean juvenile survival rate increased from 0.56 at undisturbed dens to 0.83 at disturbed den during years of decreasing small‐rodent abundance, where predation on the arctic fox is presumed to be highest. We suggest that the increased survival could be mediated by a human activity‐induced predator refuge for the arctic foxes in close proximity of trails and mountain huts. Our study demonstrates a possible positive indirect effect of nature‐based tourism on wildlife and is one of a few studies attempting to quantify this impact. It highlights the importance of context for how animals are affected by disturbance. We also demonstrate that studying how the effects of tourism activity vary depending on the context could provide opportunities for identifying the mechanisms behind these effects, which can be an important link between scientific research and the management of wildlife and tourism activities.

Arctic Fox Responses to Tourism Activity

“…Arctic foxes potential to tolerate and habituate to humans may also alter their interactions with other, more susceptible species. In a preceding study we found juvenile survival to be higher at disturbed dens during years of high arctic fox predation, likely because the tourism activity creating a predator refuge for arctic foxes close to trails and mountain huts (Larm et al 2019). Larm et al (2018) reported that participation in a guided arctic fox tour resulted in greater awareness of the conservation status of the arctic fox and greater knowledge of behavioral guidelines (e.g., approach distances).…”

“…Nature‐based human activities, such as wildlife tourism, may cause disturbance to wildlife (Czech et al 2000, Snyder 2007) by affecting activity budgets (Kitchen et al 2000, Li et al 2011), habitat use (Nevin and Gilbert 2005), distribution (Gill et al 1996, Bejder et al 2006, Carrete and Tella 2010), risk perception (Rodriguez‐Prieto et al 2008, Geffroy et al 2015), and inter‐species interactions (Muhly et al 2011, Larm et al 2019). Disturbance is any activity that changes the behavior or physiology of an animal (Nisbet 2000).…”

Resources and predation: drivers of sociality in a cyclic mesopredator

“…The arctic fox is one such alternative prey for the red fox (Frafjord et al 1989 ; Tannerfeldt et al 2002 ), golden eagle (Choi et al 2019 ), and wolverine (Angerbjörn et al 2004 ) where especially arctic fox cubs are targeted. Thus, the intra-guild predation pressure on the arctic fox is considered to follow the small rodent (basal prey) abundance (Nyström et al 2006 ; Hellström et al 2014 ; Larm et al 2019 ), and we therefore used the small rodent phase as proxy for intra-guild predation pressure. We regarded intra-guild predation pressure to be highest during the decrease phase, and lowest during increase and peak phases (Table 4 ).…”

Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies

“…An understanding of all threats is important when conservation actions are planned. Therefore, research projects targeting different aspects of the Arctic fox ecology and conservation are conducted, among them studies of behavioral responses to tourism activity (Larm et al 2018(Larm et al , 2020a. Still, even though behavioral responses function as important indicators of animals' status and welfare, they may not fully reflect the disturbance caused to an animal and can be misinterpreted (Gill et al 2001;Le Corre et al 2009).…”