Introduction: At Pinnacles National Park, Mediterranean shrubland is among the most valuable for bee diversity worldwide while also being one of the most vulnerable to pollution and urbanization (Meiners et. al. 2019). This issue of depleting resources for wildlife in National Parks is not just a problem which is external-urbanization- but also due to tourism which speeds up the degradation of parks. A survey which was sent to 51 National Parks in the US had 44 replies from the superintendents noting that over half of the parks had water and air pollution along with flora and fauna problems relating to tourism (Wang et. al. 1997). Due to the age of this source, it would be relevant to retest these variables and determine their changes since that article was published and answer the question of “do tourists affect the degree of biodiversity in a park?” The hypothesis of this research question is as follows: If tourists have a history of degrading nature in parks, and there are larger numbers of tourists today going to parks than parks are restoring nature, then the more people who tour parks the less biodiverse the park will be. Tourists are a huge support to parks, but there is a push and pull for national parks to be both for the public and a site of preservation and while there is support for tourism encouraging biodiversity (Echiverri, 2022), the degree to which it encourages is not as supported. Considering this source is taking data from Costa Rica, it would be valuable to take this research locally to see if the conclusions to that research can apply in more than one place. 

Methods: This research would be long term and can cover large areas like national parks to smaller areas like state parks. Qualitative data can be collected by observing how rich the park looks, if it has a lot of degradation from foot traffic, how much the park promotes responsible tourism, and if there is a lot of littering seen at the park. If the park heavily promotes preservation and responsible tourism, then it may have a higher chance of higher biodiversity. Quantitative data can be measured through pollutants in the air as well as testing pollutants in water if there is a water source at the park such as a river, lake, or stream. Data can be retrieved about the number of visitors to the park annually to get an estimate about how much foot traffic happens at the park.  

If the research is conducted at a state level, the geography of the state regarding its parks should be considered. For Arkansas, the state is naturally biodiverse all over, so the expectation for what a rich park looks like would be different than if one were to do this research at Pinnacles National Park, which is located in California. Another variable to be aware of would be invasive species since they can have an effect on the biodiversity independent of tourist interference. The season that the research is conducted in can also have an influence on the biodiversity of a park. The ratio of size of the park to number of visitors can affect the data and should be considered when making conclusions. 

Conclusion: The expected result of the experiment is that the more people that visit a park, the less biodiverse it is. This research can help see what changes could be made to optimize the park and change the view of the parks from a landscape of nature to a landscape of habitat. This change in view is important since parks are not only something to look at and use for one’s recreation but a home for many species in this rapidly urbanizing world. Pertaining to geography, this research could be used to study urbanization around parks and what effects they have on the wildlife and plants in that area and gain a better understanding of that landscape and the relations that the park has with preservation and the public. 

Sources: 

Meiners, J. M., Griswold, T. L., & Carril, O. M. (2019). Decades of native bee biodiversity surveys at Pinnacles National Park highlight the importance of monitoring natural areas over time. PLoS ONE, 14(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207566 

Wang, C., & Miko, P. S. (1997). Environmental impacts of tourism on U.S. national parks. Journal of Travel Research, 35(4), 31-36. Retrieved from https://ucark.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/environmental-impacts-tourism-on-u-s-national/docview/217451461/se-2?accountid=10017 

Echeverri, Alejandra, et al. “Biodiversity and Infrastructure Interact to Drive Tourism to and within Costa Rica.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119, no. 11, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107662119.