Weak impact of tourism activities on biodiversity in a subterranean hotspot of endemism and its implications for the conservation of cave fauna
Weak impact of tourism activities on biodiversity in a subterranean hotspot of endemism and its implications for the conservation of cave fauna
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DOI：
10.1111/icad.12097
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发表时间：
2015-05-01
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Deharveng, Louis
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Faille, Arnaud;Bourdeau, Charles;Deharveng, Louis
La Verna洞穴（法国，比利牛斯山脉西部），法国最大的地下洞穴，拥有18种地方性的地下无脊椎动物，都是高度变异的（穴居动物）。它最近开放用于旅游活动。为了评估其动物群在这种新的环境背景下所带来的风险，我们对洞穴的陆生动物群进行了为期3年的调查，重点关注了四种地方性的甲虫。我们在室内建立了5个采样点，在3年中每3 - 4个月进行一次监测。我们的研究结果没有发现旅游活动对洞穴生物多样性的负面影响。对照点的观察标本数量和物种丰富度均未减少。室内的巨大尺寸被认为可以防止显著的小气候变化，而非常大的巨石和裂缝的存在被认为提供了大量合适的空间，这使得无脊椎动物可以逃避当地的干扰和照明。尽管洞穴生物具有高度的脆弱性，但对洞穴生境的干扰并不一定导致生物多样性的减少，只要对洞穴大小的干扰在持续时间、强度和空间覆盖上有一定的限制。
La Verna chamber (France, western Pyrenees), the largest underground chamber in France, hosts 18 species of endemic hypogean invertebrates, all highly modified (troglobitic). It was recently opened for tourism activities. To estimate the risks incurred by its fauna in this new environmental context, we conducted a 3-year survey of the terrestrial fauna of the cave, focusing on the four steno-endemic species of beetles present. We established five sampling spots in the chamber that were monitored every 3 to 4months during 3years. Our results did not detect any negative impact of the tourism activity on cave biodiversity. Neither the number of observed specimens nor the species richness decreased in the control spots. The huge size of the chamber is assumed to prevent significant microclimatic changes and the presence of very large boulders and cracks is assumed to offer plenty of suitable spaces, which allow invertebrates to escape local disturbance and illumination. In spite of the high vulnerability of cave organisms, disturbance of cave habitats does not necessarily result in biodiversity decrease, if the cave disturbance is limited in duration, intensity, and spatial coverage with respect to the cave size.