David Newsome

This data descriptor summarizes the process applied to identify, screen, select and gather data from the content of 142 peer-reviewed papers/sources that report on the sources and impacts of recreational disturbance on coastal avifauna. While populations of resident and migratory coastal avifauna are under threat and diminishing rapidly across the planet, and particularly in association with Asian flyways, many governments are leveraging booming global demand for coastal recreation and tourism in order to deliver economic development to regional communities. The summary data shared via this data description was extracted from papers collected in a systematic literature review that was designed to explore the global literature on the recreational disturbance of coastal avifauna in order to elucidate the state of the global knowledge regarding this issue and to identify management strategies that could be applied at tropical Asian destinations to minimize the impacts of recreational disturbance and thus enhance the ecological sustainability of coastal recreation and tourism across the region. The data shared via the Excel worksheet associated with this data descriptor was extracted from peer-reviewed articles published in English between 1 January 2000 and the 31 December 2018 with the full text of the article available online.

This pilot study explores the potential of using a citizen science approach for sourcing volunteered geographic information via social media to research wildlife tourism interactions with endangered Borneo Pygmy Elephants on the lower Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysia. Such information is critical if the lower Kinabatangan region is to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through a sustainable tourism industry based around viewing the pygmy elephants. Guests and guides from the Sukau Rainforest Lodge were encouraged to become close-range remote sensors by sharing geotagged photographs of pygmy elephant sightings on Flickr. A ten week on-ground trail generated 247 photographs shared by 17 individual contributors with approximately two-thirds (65%) of photographs being georeferenced for the time and location of the elephant sighting. Plotting those sighting to explore the vegetation matrix (i.e. remnant forest or oil palm plantation) showed almost three-quarter (73%) of the sightings occurred within 1 km of an oil palm plantation. Of greater concern is that one in two sightings (50%) along the river occurred within the 500 m of an oil palm planation, which is inside the riparian buffer that the Sabah Government recommended for conservation of the elephants in their Lower Kinabatangan range. This study therefore demonstrates proof of concept for this research method and its further application at the nexus of wildlife conservation and sustainable ecotourism research.

The first two decades of the 21st-century have seen the emergence of the modern citizen science movement, increased demand for niche eco and wildlife tourism experiences, and the willingness of people to voluntarily share information and photographs online. To varying extents, the rapid growth of these three phenomena has been driven by the availability of portable smart devices, access to the Web 2.0 internet from almost anywhere on the planet, and the development of applications and services, including social media/networking sites (SNSs). In addition, the number of peer-reviewed publications that explore how text and images shared on SNSs can be data-mined for academic research has surged in recent years. This systematic quantitative review has two goals. The first goal is to provide an oversight of how the photographs that ecotourists share online are contributing to wildlife tourism research. The second goal is to promote the emerging photovoice technique as a theoretical context for social research based on the photographs and comments that ecotourists share on SNSs. From the perspectives of community benefits, conservation behaviours, and environmental education, there are many similarities between authentic ecotourism experiences and quality ecological citizen science programs. Much of the literature regarding the theory and practice of citizen science reports on the difficulties of attracting, training, motivating and retaining community members. The synthesis of this review is that crowdsourcing wildlife and tourism data from comments and photographs that ecotourists share on SNSs is a credible method of research that provides a self-replenishing pool of citizen scientists.

This research project focused on surveying visitors about the importance of facility provision and the management of urban public open space (POS) using the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) tool1. IPA can be used to survey the experiences and perceptions of POS users and can identify opportunities for management and resourcing improvement(s). IPA surveys can thus reveal valuable information in regard to: 1. Decision making based on the activities, perceptions and satisfaction of POS users; 2. Providing evidence based reasons (in respect of community support for both management actions and expenditure) for prioritising the installation, upgrading and/or removal of infrastructure and/or services; 3. Enhancing the environmental, recreation, and educational outcomes of POS; and 4. Strengthening relationships and trust between POS users and the relevant land manager(s).

Back in 1979, an estimated 500 million television viewers watched a landmark moment in natural history documentaries, as David Attenborough sat with mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Attenborough said at the time: "There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla than with any other animal I know." The gorillas that Attenborough met were habituated for research purposes, and since then many gorilla groups have been habituated purely for tourism. As a result, thousands of tourists have now visited Rwanda and Uganda’s wild mountain gorillas and, to a lesser extent, the lowland gorillas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Gabon.

From Thursday through Sunday this week the Australian Grand Prix will take over Melbourne’s Albert Park, bringing with it the glamour of fast cars, grid girls and Formula One drivers Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber and … noise and vibration. Which is strange, because public spaces such as national and urban parks, marine parks and coastal areas have traditionally been understood as an escape from the noise and pressure of urban life, used for appreciative recreation, tranquillity and conservation of the environment. While authors on The Conversation have suggested a need for more people in parks, the research of my co-authors and I indicates a problem with the rising tide of events that see a concentration of users who are motorised, on mountain bikes or part of running events. Does the impact of these activities on our environment and community outweigh the benefits?