TOURISM AND SPORT IN THE ALPS - A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR WILDLIFE

The paper deals with the question to what extent increasing tourist an d leisure activities are a serious problem for wildlife. It presents t he project ''Tourismus und Wild'' carried out between 1990 and 1993. T he aim of the project is to measure the effects of different forms of tourism and leisure activities (hiking, paragliding etc.) as a basis f or optimizing the relationship between tourism/recreation and wildlife . The studies were carried out on chamois, ibex, alpine marmots and pt armigan in several areas of the Swiss alps differing in their amount o f tourist and leisure activities: a) in the same area in the course of the day and on different days; b) in different sections of an area an d in different areas. Several examples from the current study are used for illustration. Hikers and alpine marmots: the example shows that h iking can have a stronger effect than would be expected from the great ly reduced flight distances of the animals. It shows as well that it m atters whether hikers keep to the path and whether they are accompanie d by a dog or not. Hikers and chamois: moderate hiking activity on a p ath leading across a preferred grazing area of male chamois influences their use of the area in the course of the day. When hikers are prese nt the chamois avoid the attractive grazing areas. Hikers and ptarmiga n: By measuring heart-rate it was shown that bradycardia (decrease in frequency) occurs when a person is approaching the nest. Bradycardia i s a subtle indicator for stimuli to which incubating hends in the cont ext of predator avoidance. Paragliders and chamois: in areas which so far have been rarely used by paragliders experimental flights provoked strong reactions (escape to the woods at great distances). The develo pment of the responses is followed up. It is not yet possible to prese nt definite results on the behaviour of animals in areas where paragli ding has been carried out for a long time. Criteria are listed to clar ify the question as to when certain events have to be considered as a ''serious problem'': reduced survival and/or reproduction rate (even i f a direct proof is lacking, as long as there is a strong indication f rom the analysis of the behaviour); habitat loss; effects on further e lements of the habitat (e.g. damage to the vegetation due to overgrazi ng). There is an urgent need to solve the problem of ''flying objects (particularly paragliders) and wildlife''. In collaboration with the f ederal office for the environment and the groups concerned (e.g. parag liding association) it is planned to work out measures to limit the ef fect on wildlife.