Disturbance by massive sporting events in mountain areas
When and where matters for the protected Alpine ibex Capra ibex
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19582448 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pascal Marchand (0000-0002-0710-8861, French National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environments, corresponding author), Nolwenn Risser (French National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environments), Elodie Petit (Lyon 1 Université), Mathieu Garel (Fondation Pour la Recherche Sur la Biodiversité) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 3002-3016 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | People and Nature (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2575-8314 • E-ISSN: 2575-8314 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/pan3.70151 |
| OpenAlex | W4414923619 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 53 |
The ongoing development of recreational activities in natural areas raises concerns about their environmental impacts, particularly in mountain ecosystems. Those biodiversity hotspots are highly attractive for outdoor activities, but they are also highly sensitive to human disturbance. However, little is still known about the impacts of massive nature‐based sporting events, whose number has recently exploded. We focused on the impact of two types of massive sporting event (MSE) that occurred in the Bargy massif (northern French Alps) over a period of 10 years: a trail running competition with 600–1300 participants spread over four races, and stages of three emblematic cycling races, including the Tour de France. Based on the GPS monitoring of 139 individuals, we analysed several behavioural metrics during daytime and the following night when the MSE occurred, and compared them with reference data without MSE, recorded on the same dates but in other years. We revealed that trail running events exacerbate the ‘corridor of fear’ in Alpine ibex, a chronic and proactive response to the infrastructure concentrating human activities, that reshaped behavioural decisions at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Ibex redistributed farther from the hiking trails used by trail runners (−9% GPS locations within 500 m, representing a 20% relative decrease, +8% in the 500–1000 m range, representing a 25% relative increase). We also found increased movements (+14%) and activity levels during daytime in individuals close to the event route the night before the MSE. By contrast, cycling events had much more limited effects on ibex distribution and behaviour. While cycling events occurred primarily during summer when most of the ibex were already far from the roads, trail running events occurred at the beginning of the birth period and crossed the seasonal range of ibex, raising questions about the consequences for reproductive outputs. These findings highlight the need to consider the timing and route of MSE to avoid areas used during critical periods in the biological cycle of species, and more generally to address the rapidly growing impacts of MSE on mountain species already challenged by climate change during the crucial spring–summer period. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog
Biodiversity · Cycling · Global Positioning System · Recreation · Tourism · Ecology and biodiversity studies · Species Distribution and Climate Change · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
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Behavioural Considerations in the Management of Mountain-Dwelling Ungulates
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Crowded mountains
Mountain Biodiversity, Its Causes and Function
Human-caused Disturbance Stimuli as a Form of Predation Risk
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |