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Short-term effects of visitor trampling on macroinvertebrates in karst streams in an ecotourism region

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Abstract

In order to evaluate the potential risks of human visitation on macroinvertebrate communities in streams, we investigated the effect of trampling using two short-term experiments conducted in a Brazilian ecotourism karst region. We asked three questions: (a) Does trampling increase the drift rate of aquatic macroinvertebrates and organic matter? (b) Does trampling change the macroinvertebrate community organization? (c) If trampling alters the community structure, is a short time (5 days, a between weekends interval - peaks of tourism activities) sufficient for community restructuring? Analysis of variance of richness, total abundance, abundance of the most abundant genus (e.g., Simothraulopsis and Callibaetis), and community composition showed that trampling immediately affects macroinvertebrate community and that the intervals between the peaks of visitation (5 days) are not sufficient to complete community restructuring. Considering that bathing areas receive thousands of visitors every year and that intervals of time without visitation are nearly nonexistent, we suspect that the negative effects on the macroinvertebrate community occur in a cumulative way. Finally, we discuss some simple procedures that could potentially be used for reducing trampling impacts in lotic environments.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza for their financial support (Project 0791_20081). We are also grateful to the entrepreneurs and the Tourism Secretary of Bonito, MS-Brazil. This work was partly supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Project 476484/2008-1) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. We express our gratitude for the specimens’ identification to Melissa O. Segura–PhD, Coleoptera; Frederico Falcão Salles–PhD, Ephemeroptera; Rafael Moretto–PhD student, Trichoptera; Silvana Thiengo–PhD Molusca; Lucas Lecci–PhD, Plecoptera; and Juliana Freires–PhD student, Hemiptera. We express our gratitude also to Raquel Taminato and Julie Teresa Shapiro for reviewing the technical language. F.O. Roque receives a productivity grant from the CNPq (Process 303293/2009-8).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-graduação em Entomologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade—PPG_ECB, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados—UFGD, 79825-070, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Suzana Cunha Escarpinati

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista—UNESP, 13506-900, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

    Tadeu Siqueira

  3. Faculdade de Ciências Biológicas e Ambientais, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados—UFGD, 79825-070, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Paulino Barroso Medina-Jr

  4. Departamento de Biologia—CCBS, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul—UFMS, 79070-900, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Fabio de Oliveira Roque

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  1. Suzana Cunha Escarpinati
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  2. Tadeu Siqueira
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  3. Paulino Barroso Medina-Jr
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Correspondence to Suzana Cunha Escarpinati.

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Escarpinati, S.C., Siqueira, T., Medina-Jr, P.B. et al. Short-term effects of visitor trampling on macroinvertebrates in karst streams in an ecotourism region. Environ Monit Assess 186, 1655–1663 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-013-3483-x

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