_____________________________________________________ TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN OUTBACK AUSTRALIA: THE BEHAVIOUR AND IMPACT OF NATURE-BASED TOURISTS ON VEGETATION AND SELECTED WILDLIFE SPECIES _______________________________________________ Isabelle D. Wolf Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2009 School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Science The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia For my parents and partner, for my family by soul, for nature, my trusted home. II Official statements Originality Statement 'I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.' August 28, 2009 Copyright Statement 'I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the abstract of my thesis in Dissertations Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' August 28, 2009 Authenticity Statement 'I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.' August 28, 2009 III Abstract Nature-based tourism offers significant socio-economic incentives to successfully replace more intrusive land uses but also causes negative environmental impacts. Currently, knowledge is needed about the effectiveness of specific management actions such as the provision of different access modes and tour experiences at minimizing these impacts while maximizing visitor satisfaction. Nature-based tourism activities were studied in the species-rich gorges of the Flinders Ranges in Outback Australia. This study developed a conceptual framework of visitor- environment relationships, constructed a regional visitor profile, assessed visitor monitoring methods to quantify usage intensity in relation to the access mode (roads vs. hiking trails), examined changes in vegetation and bird communities in relation to usage intensity and access mode, tested effects of approach behaviour among driving vs. hiking tourists on kangaroo behaviour, and designed a framework for a night-time wildlife tour. The usage intensity of gorge sections was best determined from visitor numbers stratified by their behaviour, as the access mode fundamentally changed visitor behaviour in gorges. High compared to low usage recreational tracks altered species community composition, decreased total plant cover, increased non-native species cover, increased or decreased plant diversity depending on the track distance, increased soil compaction, and decreased bird numbers and species richness. Vegetation changes had secondary aversive effects on the bird community. The magnitude and spatial extent of these community impacts were greater along roads than trails. Visitor approach towards kangaroos varied with the access mode and necessitated individual recommendations for low-impact behaviour. The optimal night-time observation tour employed night-vision devices and bat detectors and coupled visitor satisfaction with low impact on wildlife. A range of factors (e.g., weather conditions) moderated the susceptibility of the wildlife to tourism disturbance. To protect wildlife and habitat along recreational tracks in arid-lands gorges, it is recommended to (1) monitor usage intensity and the identified impact indicators within their effect zone, (2) curtail gorge usage by restricting vehicle access to sections and regulating high impact activities (e.g., wild camping), (3) base environmental education upon scientifically tested low-impact visitor behaviour, and (4) engage with tourism operators in the design of low-impact, yet satisfying tours based on scientific principles. IV Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to greatly thank my supervisor Dr. David Croft for his varied assistance from the initial conception to the completion of this thesis. I am extremely grateful for our discussions and his patient answers/feedback to my myriad of questions and thoughts. Further, I would also especially like to thank him for providing much of the equipment I have used, sometimes even his personal belongings, and for suggesting numerous funding opportunities. Experimenting with the night vision equipment and the bat detector will forever be one of my most special memories of living in the Outback. Thank you for making me feel welcome 'out there' at Fowlers Gap. I also very much appreciate the many books and literature I was able to borrow; further the numerous statistical programs and innovative analyses that David made me become aware of and that contributed greatly to my general comprehension of the data. In addition, I would like to extend my appreciation to him for his many kindnesses such as bringing fresh groceries to a very hungry field camp crew or for providing storage at his home whilst I was working in the Flinders Ranges. Moreover, I am grateful that I was able to address such a great variety of topics in my thesis and to learn so many different skills as David was always open to any novel ideas. Finally, I would like to thank him for his insightful revisions and linguistic makeovers of my thesis drafts. Thank you also for encouraging me to put my "best foot forward" right from the start! I would sincerely like to thank my volunteers Gerald Hagenloh, Shana Dammel and Margarethe Steinhuber. Gerald has been with me almost every step of the way of the thesis and his assistance was invaluable for this 'big project' to work out. I especially like to thank him for his generous and dedicated help at collecting data for the visitor surveys and for the plant and bird studies. Further, I greatly appreciate his technical support wherever needed, especially the setup of the solar power during the first field season in the Flinders Ranges, the general vehicle maintenance and preparation of the night vision equipment. A great thank you also for the many discussions which moved the project forward, the internet research and the great suggestions on the layout of some of my presentations. Shana's assistance on the data collection and some entry of the visitor surveys and the plant, bird and kangaroo study and Margarethe's assistance on the visitor surveys and the kangaroo study are immensely appreciated. In all, I could not have asked for a better team of volunteers, especially during the challenging camping conditions over months. They have V worked and been motivated every day while we were out in the field and their engagement was crucial to achieve the respective sample sizes and to attain the present scope of the thesis. Thank you especially for the good times and laughs we had together. A great thank you also goes to my three examiners for their prompt and thorough review of this thesis. I would like to acknowledge numerous people who have helped me during my fieldwork in the Flinders Ranges and at Fowlers Gap. I have had several helpful discussions with Nicky de Preu on study sites and Flinders Ranges ecology and like to thank her for useful literature. Especially her help with identifying some of the 'tricky' plants is appreciated. Shirley Meyer is to be thanked for introducing me to some of the study sites and to the Flinders Ranges park staff as well as for her general interest in my project. I would like to thank Flinders Ranges National Park (Melanie Vears and colleagues) and Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park (Danny Doyle and staff) for their kind in- house support. Thank you so much, Matt Kennewell, for helping out spontaneously and generously with accommodation when we really needed it! Thank you, Peter Watkins, for the ride to the mechanic in Hawker, some informative park material and the general good 'chats' we had. I would like to acknowledge Frank Williams for his excellent suggestions on literature about the history of tourism in the Flinders Ranges. Even when you are overseas without your notebook, you are a fountain of knowledge. Several useful park management reports and information brochures were received from Bronte Leak and visitor data from Julie Sandercock. All the private leaseholders that granted us access to their leased gorges are gratefully acknowledged. Further, I would like to thank all the visitors to the Flinders Ranges that have dedicated some of their precious vacation time to this project by being GPS-tracked or answering the many survey questions. Your cooperation and sense of humour (e.g., during the kangaroo dummy observations!) is greatly appreciated. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary and Wilpena Pound Tourist Resort for letting us survey their guests.