Arctic ecosystems being ni...( also found that lasting changes can res...)

also found that lasting changes can result from disturbances that leave the plant layer intact. One of the most widespread disturbances in the Arctic is heavy tracked vehicles, and driving them through an area only once during the summer can be enough to cause long-term damage. Dwarf shrubs can die, meadows can drain rapidly and dry out, and the permafrost that most tundra ecosystems depend on can melt. While summer traffic is banned in the North American Arctic, winter traffic can also be damaging if the snow is thin.

Similarly, pedestrian trampling can decrease plant biodiversity, for example favoring willows and rapidly growing grasses over most other plants; and flatten the hummocks and hollows that give geographical diversity -- and so plant diversity -- to the landscape.

"A wide range of small disturbances resulted in...reduced species diversity," say Forbes and his colleagues. "In addition to the more obvious and large-scale effects associated with petroleum development, mining and military activity, the explosive growth of ecotourism is affecting all sectors of the Arctic. We suggest that serious consideration should also be given to the less visible effects of seemingly benign recreational activities that inevitably accompany tourism development."

Forbes' co-authors are: James Ebersole of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Beate Strandberg of the National Environmental Research Institute in Silkeborg, Denmark.

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Contact: Bruce Forbes
bforbes@urova.fi
011-358-16-341-2710
Society for Conservation Biology
23-Jul-2001

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