High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna
Human footprint models allow visualization of human spatial pressure across the globe. Up until now, Antarctica has been omitted from global footprint models, due possibly to the lack of a permanent human population and poor accessibility to necessary datasets. Yet Antarctic ecosystems face increasi...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:5235374 2023-05-15T13:55:37+02:00 High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna Pertierra, Luis R. Hughes, Kevin A. Vega, Greta C. Olalla-Tárraga, Miguel Á. 2017-01-13 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5235374/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28085889 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168280 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5235374/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28085889 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168280 © 2017 Pertierra et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2017 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168280 2017-02-12T00:59:50Z Human footprint models allow visualization of human spatial pressure across the globe. Up until now, Antarctica has been omitted from global footprint models, due possibly to the lack of a permanent human population and poor accessibility to necessary datasets. Yet Antarctic ecosystems face increasing cumulative impacts from the expanding tourism industry and national Antarctic operator activities, the management of which could be improved with footprint assessment tools. Moreover, Antarctic ecosystem dynamics could be modelled to incorporate human drivers. Here we present the first model of estimated human footprint across predominantly ice-free areas of Antarctica. To facilitate integration into global models, the Antarctic model was created using methodologies applied elsewhere with land use, density and accessibility features incorporated. Results showed that human pressure is clustered predominantly in the Antarctic Peninsula, southern Victoria Land and several areas of East Antarctica. To demonstrate the practical application of the footprint model, it was used to investigate the potential threat to Antarctica’s avifauna by local human activities. Relative footprint values were recorded for all 204 of Antarctica’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs) identified by BirdLife International and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Results indicated that formal protection of avifauna under the Antarctic Treaty System has been unsystematic and is lacking for penguin and flying bird species in some of the IBAs most vulnerable to human activity and impact. More generally, it is hoped that use of this human footprint model may help Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting policy makers in their decision making concerning avifauna protection and other issues including cumulative impacts, environmental monitoring, non-native species and terrestrial area protection. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica SCAR Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Victoria Land PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula East Antarctica The Antarctic Victoria Land PLOS ONE 12 1 e0168280 |
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Research Article Pertierra, Luis R. Hughes, Kevin A. Vega, Greta C. Olalla-Tárraga, Miguel Á. High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna |
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Research Article |
description |
Human footprint models allow visualization of human spatial pressure across the globe. Up until now, Antarctica has been omitted from global footprint models, due possibly to the lack of a permanent human population and poor accessibility to necessary datasets. Yet Antarctic ecosystems face increasing cumulative impacts from the expanding tourism industry and national Antarctic operator activities, the management of which could be improved with footprint assessment tools. Moreover, Antarctic ecosystem dynamics could be modelled to incorporate human drivers. Here we present the first model of estimated human footprint across predominantly ice-free areas of Antarctica. To facilitate integration into global models, the Antarctic model was created using methodologies applied elsewhere with land use, density and accessibility features incorporated. Results showed that human pressure is clustered predominantly in the Antarctic Peninsula, southern Victoria Land and several areas of East Antarctica. To demonstrate the practical application of the footprint model, it was used to investigate the potential threat to Antarctica’s avifauna by local human activities. Relative footprint values were recorded for all 204 of Antarctica’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs) identified by BirdLife International and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Results indicated that formal protection of avifauna under the Antarctic Treaty System has been unsystematic and is lacking for penguin and flying bird species in some of the IBAs most vulnerable to human activity and impact. More generally, it is hoped that use of this human footprint model may help Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting policy makers in their decision making concerning avifauna protection and other issues including cumulative impacts, environmental monitoring, non-native species and terrestrial area protection. |
format |
Text |
author |
Pertierra, Luis R. Hughes, Kevin A. Vega, Greta C. Olalla-Tárraga, Miguel Á. |
author_facet |
Pertierra, Luis R. Hughes, Kevin A. Vega, Greta C. Olalla-Tárraga, Miguel Á. |
author_sort |
Pertierra, Luis R. |
title |
High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna |
title_short |
High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna |
title_full |
High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna |
title_fullStr |
High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna |
title_full_unstemmed |
High Resolution Spatial Mapping of Human Footprint across Antarctica and Its Implications for the Strategic Conservation of Avifauna |
title_sort |
high resolution spatial mapping of human footprint across antarctica and its implications for the strategic conservation of avifauna |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5235374/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28085889 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168280 |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula East Antarctica The Antarctic Victoria Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula East Antarctica The Antarctic Victoria Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica SCAR Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Victoria Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica SCAR Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Victoria Land |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5235374/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28085889 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168280 |
op_rights |
© 2017 Pertierra et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168280 |
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PLOS ONE |
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12 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
e0168280 |
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