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Concentration of fecal cortisol metabolites in chamois in relation to tourist pressure in Tatra National Park (South Poland)

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Abstract

In protected areas, outdoor recreation, and nature-based tourism can act as potential stressors for wildlife. Given the growing demand for nature recreation, the consequences of high tourist visitation on wildlife need to be assessed in order to avoid incompatibilities between public use and species protection goals. The Tatra National Park (Poland), in the Carpathian Mountains, is a unique alpine ecosystem visited by three million tourists per year. It hosts the only native population of an endemic subspecies of chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica). We investigated the effects of tourist disturbance, the number of visitors, and the season on the concentration of fecal cortisol metabolites (FCM) in Tatra chamois in 2009. FCM levels of chamois were significantly higher and showed higher variation at high tourist disturbance (mean ± SD, 46.2 ± 31.53 ng/g, n = 56) than at low disturbance sites (mean ± SD, 17.2 ± 8.05 ng/g, n = 38). Stress levels increased with the number of visitors and therefore showed a peak in summer, coinciding with the highest number of visitation to the national park. A large portion of chamois habitat in Tatra National Park is within the area of influence of the touristic trail network. The temporal or permanent creation of areas free of disturbance in protected areas should be considered, especially in the periods of high tourist visitation. This study highlights the need to monitor the effects of tourist activities on wildlife and to implement new policies in the management of protected areas.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Marcin Nędza-Chotarski and Jan Polak for their help in sample collection. Information on the number of tourists and chamois was collected by TNP and TANAP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tatra National Park, Kuźnice 1, 34-500, Zakopane, Poland

    Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica

  2. Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Mickiewicza 33, 31-120, Kraków, Poland

    Nuria Selva

  3. Departamento de Biología, Unidad Zoología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Isabel Barja

  4. Departamento de Fisiología Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Gema Silván, Leticia Martínez-Fernández & Juan Carlos Illera

  5. Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-386, Kraków, Poland

    Miłosz Jodłowski

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  1. Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica
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  2. Nuria Selva
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  3. Isabel Barja
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  4. Gema Silván
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  5. Leticia Martínez-Fernández
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  6. Juan Carlos Illera
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  7. Miłosz Jodłowski
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Correspondence to Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica.

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Communicated by: Karol Zub

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Zwijacz-Kozica, T., Selva, N., Barja, I. et al. Concentration of fecal cortisol metabolites in chamois in relation to tourist pressure in Tatra National Park (South Poland). Acta Theriol 58, 215–222 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-012-0108-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-012-0108-7

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