Research on Ecotourism

Hola from Isla Santa Cruz!

Nugget of knowledge for the day – There are over 9,000 species of plants and animals that inhabit the Galapagos archipelago, hundreds of which live nowhere else on the planet.

Ecotourism – The Good and the Bad

One of the over 9,000 stunning
organisms found on the Galapagos. 

Ecotourism is seen as a double-edged sword for many scientists who study ecosystems protected and shared under the umbrella of the tourist industry. On one hand, ecotourism can play a vital role in conservation awareness and the development of local economies. It can bring global attention to previously unknown ecological problem and success stories, and can help people from across the world become exposed to extraordinary plant life, wildlife, and geological systems. It allows people just like us to develop appreciation for protected lands and its inhabitants, all while informing us all of the many relationships that can be seen first hand while travelling through some of the most beautiful places on earth. However, when people establish themselves anywhere on the planet, changes to those areas are bound to take place eventually – the Galapagos is no exception.

Ecotourism is also considered a mild disturbance, and as research in this particular field continues to expand, it is becoming increasingly clear that ecotourism is not completely harmless to the wildlife it aims to promote. Using the Galapagos as an example, just last year, the Ecuadorian tourism industry brought in over a million visitors to these islands; this is a stark contrast to only ten short years ago when roughly 60,000 people travelled to see the Galapagos! 

One of the many marine iguanas seen
on our way to Tortuga Bay on Isle Santa Cruz.

Currently, people have access to only 3% of the Galapagos, yet tour boats, water taxis, fishing boats, and tankers occupy much of the ocean space around the islands. Increasing traffic to the islands means increasing demands for land vehicles to transport people and goods, as well as increased airplane traffic into and out of the islands. Increasing populations necessitates increased infrastructure in local towns, while demands made by tourists, scientists, local governments, and anyone looking to gain success here, increases seemingly every day.

A view blocked by tour boats
for this marine iguana. 

While this all ensures a chance at prosperity and excitement for people on the Galapagos, we must begin to think about how these disturbances impact the islands and its original inhabitants – the plant and wildlife communities. 

This is one of our goals as scientists!

What We Know Already

Tourist sites are regularly visited by hundreds of people daily, yet there are adjacent non-tourist sites that are protected Federal Reserve lands, and are never visited. Since the Galapagos is isolated and human activity is closely monitored in almost every area, we can accurately assess human impacts on populations of marine iguanas. In 2010, Dr. French and her colleagues published a study in the scientific journal Hormones and Behavior that looked at how human disturbances alters immune responses in marine iguanas ⁽¹⁾. Specifically, she looked at the hormone Corticosterone (CORT) and the ability of marine iguanas to perform immune responses. Our trip to the Galapagos was meant to build upon this research.

A male marine iguana along the shoreline.

To help you better understand what we’re looking at, think of a shark attacking a marine iguana along the shore of the Galapagos Islands; this is a very plausible scenario, since adult marine iguanas forage for algae in the ocean. The first hormones released by the marine iguana during the attack are the fight or flight hormones (if you’ve ever been startled or scared by something, you know what this feels like!). If this iguana survives the attack, it may be injured and need to heal. This is where the hormone CORT comes into play. Within a few minutes, CORT is distributed throughout the body in the bloodstream, and begins acting like a military general, activating and directing immune cells and energy to important parts of the body.

**This is why we were bleeding the animals within 3 minutes of capture (baseline bleed), and again at 30 minutes after capture (stress bleed). The baseline bleed is a snapshot of their CORT levels before we captured them, while the bleed 30 minutes later allows us to see CORT levels after a stressful event.**

One of our marked marine iguanas
overlooking a crowded, tourist beach.

Dr. French and her colleagues have previously shown that ecotourism affects the ability of marine iguanas to respond to stress, particularly showing that marine iguanas exposed to ecotourism have increased CORT levels. Their bodies have, over time, become hypersensitive to stressful events. Another scientist, Dr. Martin Wikelski, found that too much exposure to, and production of CORT might limit reproductive success and long-term survival in marine iguanas ⁽²⁾.

Since CORT is the body’s general after a stressful event, it is a really important hormone, but too much can be a bad thing!

Look at this figure to help you better understand how this works.

What Does This All Mean!?

So CORT, as the general that directs energy and immune cells throughout the body, is good for the animal during and after stressful events. Yet, Dr. French has shown that prolonged exposure to stressful events like ecotourism increases CORT (FIGURE 1), and therefore may limit the ability of marine iguanas to properly respond to stressful events. She has also found that tourism negatively affects the ability for marine iguanas to heal from wounds (FIGURE 2). Dr. Wilkelski has also shown that prolonged exposure to CORT is harmful to marine iguanas.

Increased CORT from repeated stressful events (ecotourism) = decreased immune function, and increase of potential harm to marine iguanas.

 

Students, This is Where You Come In

One of our marked females watching the sunset.

As learning scientists, what does this data mean to you? Think critically about what this means for the iguanas, the tourism industry, for us as scientists, for the Park Service who monitors the land, and for you in Cache Valley. Really push yourselves to think about the potential for conflict here. I have given you all some potential benefits and costs of a quickly growing tourism industry on the Galapagos, as well as data that suggests marine iguanas may be at risk. What does this mean for populations in the Galapagos? What does this mean, for example, for populations of wildlife in Yellowstone National Park, another place where ecotourism is very popular? Think about the relationships your families have with your own environment, and the costs and benefits these relationships have on the ecosystems. Really try to make a sound connection!

If you are struggling to start, here are some potential questions for you to answer and think about. If there is something else that you may think of, or if you come up with more questions, please feel free to ask and discuss it! I'll be trying to get back to all of you!

There is no right or wrong answer, but be creative, thinking logically, and think critically!

Answer the following questions or ask and discuss new questions in this comment section for successful completion of your assignment. Think about the research, what the data may be suggesting, and what potential inferences you can make from it.

Your responses, questions, or both must be 50 words or more to get full credit.

1.) What impacts do you think this may have for the park service and how it treats the tourism industry? Should something be done? Can anything realistically be done?

2.) What does this data mean for marine iguana populations?

3.)  Since we did something very similar during this trip (just more expansive), what kind of results do you think we will find this time? Will they change? How will they be more refined?

4.) What could this information mean for other areas of life for marine iguanas?

5.) How can we better balance the tourism and the protection of wildlife? Does this data suggest this needs to happen?

 Literature Cited

1.) French, S. S., DeNardo, D. F., Greives, T. J., Strand, C. R. & Demas, G. E. Human disturbance alters endocrine and immune responses in the Galapagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). Hormones and Behavior 58, 792-799 (2010).

2.) Romero, L. M. & Wikelski, M. Stress physiology as a predictor of survival in Galapagos marine iguanas. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277, 3157-3162, doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.0678 (2010).