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How does the beach ecosystem change without tourists during COVID-19 lockdown?
E H Soto1,2, C M Botero3,2, C B Milanés4,2
1Centro de Observación Marino para Estudios de Riesgos del Ambiente Costero (COSTAR), Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y de Recursos Naturales, Universidad de Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Chile.
Biological Conservation
|December 19, 2022
Summary
The COVID-19 lockdown allowed urban beaches to recover, showing increased vegetation and ghost crab populations due to reduced human activity and pollution. This highlights the potential for rapid restoration of coastal ecosystems with conservation strategies.
Area of Science:
- Marine Biology
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Urban tourist beaches offer recreation but often neglect biodiversity conservation.
- The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a global lockdown, creating an unprecedented opportunity to study human absence in coastal ecosystems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the ecological impact of human absence on urban tourist beaches during the COVID-19 lockdown.
- To assess the response of bioindicators to reduced anthropogenic stressors like pollution, noise, and user density.
Main Methods:
- Studied bioindicators across 29 urban beaches in seven Latin American countries.
- Assessed plant and animal presence and anthropogenic stressors using a standardized protocol.
- Compared environmental conditions before and during lockdown using multivariate non-parametric statistics.
Main Results:
- Observed significant positive changes in biological components and a decrease in human stressors.
- Dune vegetation increased, and ghost crab burrow densities were high on most beaches.
- Reduced beach user frequency led to decreased litter, noise, and unnatural odors.
Conclusions:
- Tourist beaches can recover their natural state relatively quickly after human activity ceases.
- Proposed bioindicators can measure beach changes post-lockdown.
- Implementing conservation strategies can make recreational beach services more environmentally friendly.
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