Recent advances in recreation ecology and the implications of different relationships between recreation use and ecological impacts

© The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org W recreation and tourism activities in parks, wilderness, and protected areas continue to show trends of increasing participation (Cordell 2008; Balmford et al. 2009). Associated with this rise in visitation are anthropogenic disturbances that result in environmental impacts, which in turn raise concerns as to whether recreation and tourism activities in protected areas can be managed sustainably. In response to these concerns, a specialized field of study – recreation ecology – has emerged. Recreation ecology began in earnest in the early 1960s (Wagar 1964) and is commonly defined as the study of the impacts of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism activities in natural or semi-natural environments (Liddle 1997; Hammitt and Cole 1998). Several recent reviews have identified more than 1000 articles on recreation ecology published in the past few decades (Leung and Marion 2000; Buckley 2004; Monz et al. 2010; Steven et al. 2011; Newsome et al. 2012). Although recreation ecology research has been conducted throughout the world, most studies have occurred in North America, Europe, and Australia (Buckley 2005; Steven et al. 2011). Research in recreation ecology has examined the impacts of hiking, camping, and other activities where use is concentrated, such as along formal trails or at highuse destinations, or dispersed, where visitors are not confined to specific routes or destinations (Figure 1). Research on concentrated-use includes examining changes along established trails and sites, including relating impacts to patterns of use-associated, environmental, and managerial factors (Leung and Marion 2000). By way of comparison, research on dispersed-use tends to examine recreation as a type of ecological disturbance and often relies on controlled experimental designs to quantify the resistance (ability to withstand disturbance) and resilience (ability to rebound after disturbance) of ecosystems to particular types of use (Monz et al. 2010). The impact of trampling on vegetation is one of the most common and systematically researched topics in recreation ecology (eg Wagar 1964; Bayfield 1971; Cole and Bayfield 1993; Hill and Pickering 2009; Pickering et al. 2010). This includes assessing the response of vegetation and soils to increasing levels and different types of use. Experimental trampling protocols (eg Cole and Bayfield 1993) have been widely used to examine a range of factors that influence the intensity and extent of impacts including: (1) amount of use, (2) type and behavCONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS