Effects of tourism disturbance on the habitat and water quality for Andrias davidianus in Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China

Abstract

To understand the effects of tourism disturbance on the habitat and water quality for Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus, CGS), the interference and characteristics of habitat for CGS under different tourism intensity (high, medium, and low) were investigated, and the physicochemical and microbial index of water were analyzed in Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province, China from 2014 to 2016. The results showed that high tourism disturbance (>0.5 million per year) significantly increased noise and reduced the number of dens, decreased dissolved oxygen levels, increased total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and microbial abundance in water, especially that of Escherichiacoli. Under high disturbance, the characteristics of habitat and water quality still could meet the requirements of the growth of CGS. According to the National ground water class 2 standard based on the demands of E. coli in the surface water (2000 ind·L-1), the theoretical threshold of tourist numbers was 26.0471 million per year. The intensity of tourism interference should be effectively reduced by declining tourist numbers and tourism facilities, for the protection of the habitat quality of the CGS and the promotion of tourism development.