Tourism and stress hormone measures in Gentoo Penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

The impacts of tourism on wildlife have long been a concern in areas where ecotourism is a major industry. The issue is especially pressing in Antarctica, which has a rapidly growing tourism industry largely concentrated around penguin colonies on the Antarctic Peninsula. Guidelines developed by both the Committee for Environmental Protection and the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators include measures to minimize wildlife impacts. In this study, we examined the relationship between physiologic stress in Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua) and tourism. Corticosterone is an adrenal glucocorticoid that has been shown in previous studies to increase in response to stressors such as low food availability, environmental conditions, as well as human visitation and proximity. Fecal glucocorticoids (FGM; primarily corticosterone and metabolites) were measured in Gentoo Penguin guano collected at 19 breeding colonies (n = 108, 3–10 samples per site) on the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands, representing a wide range of tourism visitation. We found a large degree of variation in FGM concentrations, and no relationship between FGM concentrations and number of tourists landed at that site. These results suggest that current tourism management guidelines on the Antarctic Peninsula are effective at preventing increased stress in Gentoo Penguins as measured by hormonal markers, and demonstrate the use of guano as a non-invasive, low-impact methodology for monitoring Gentoo Penguin stress.