Search

Alpine ecosystems harbour a rich and highly specialised biodiversity, which is particularly susceptible to anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat loss and fragmentation as well as to climate change. Combined with other forms of land-use conversion, construction and maintenance of ski resorts can have severe consequences on alpine biodiversity. In this study, we show how one amphibian and two reptile species, namely Rana temporaria , Zootoca vivipara and Vipera berus , respond to such impacts by means of a multi-season occupancy analysis. We found all three species both in and outside ski-runs, showing that these habitats do not necessarily preclude their occurrence. Contrarily, this is influenced more by microhabitat availability, such as ground vegetation, humid areas and rock cover, rather than by macro-characteristics like elevation or habitat type. Moreover, we found a climatic influence on the year-to-year occupancy change of the species, with activity-month conditions being more relevant than overwintering ones. Our results demonstrate how, in the specific case of reptiles and amphibians, ski resorts do not necessarily limit species' occurrence and that a mild series of management actions might secure the species' persistence in the area., Competing Interests: No actual or potential conflict of interest to declare., (© 2024 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Winter tourism is an important economic factor in the European Alps, which could be exposed to severely changing meteorological conditions due to climate change in the future. The extent to which meteorology influences winter tourism figures has so far been analyzed mainly based on monthly or seasonal data and in relation to skier numbers. Therefore, we record for the first time daily visitor numbers at five Bavarian winter tourism destinations based on 1518 webcam images using object detection and link them to meteorological and time-related variables. Our results show that parameters such as temperature, cloud cover or sunshine duration, precipitation, snow depth, wind speed, and relative humidity play a role especially at locations that include other forms of winter tourism in addition to skiing. In the ski resorts studied, on the other hand, skiing is mostly independent of current weather conditions, which can be attributed mainly to artificial snowmaking. Moreover, at the webcam sites studied, weekends and vacation periods had an equal or even stronger influence on daily visitor numbers than the current weather conditions. The extent to which weather impacts the (future) visitor numbers of a winter tourism destination must therefore be investigated individually and with the inclusion of non-meteorological variables influencing human behavior., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This study uses a time-varying model that provides new evidence on the changing relationship between domestic overnight stays of selected winter sport destinations and natural snow conditions. A Kalman filter method combined with wavelet-based multiresolution analysis (MRA) is employed to investigate the relationships in intervals between 2 and 4 and up to 16-32 months. The model is applied to domestic overnight stays for selected mountain regions in Sweden (Dalarna and Jämtland), Norway (Buskerud, Hedmark, Hordaland and Oppland) and Austria (Salzburg and Tyrol). Results show that the sensitivity of domestic overnight stays on natural snow conditions varies markedly depending on location, time period and frequency band window used in the estimation. The medium-run relation for Tyrol and Salzburg is significantly declining over time, while in Norway and Sweden, the same relationship is generally volatile and not significant at the end of the sample period. In the short run, none of the regions exhibits a link between domestic overnight stays and snow depth fluctuations.

Climate and weather are important factors that determine winter tourism destinations and snow resources and temperature affect the income of the winter tourism industry. Against the background of climate change, abnormal fluctuations in climate elements bring a series of challenges for winter tourism and cause potential losses to the tourism industry. To effectively assess and plan winter tourism destinations, this study establishes the snow abundance and meteorological suitability indices from snow resource and weather conditions to express winter tourism resources, respectively. The coupling relationship of the two indices was used to analyze the spatial suitability of winter tourism destinations based on the copula function. By case analysis, it was found that the Frank copula one is the best fitting function for winter tourism suitability analysis. The Yushu⁻Jiutai⁻Yitong⁻Dongliao line is the boundary of spatial suitability in the study area. The eastern areas of the boundary have great potential for winter tourism and could strive to develop ice-snow projects, whereas the western regions are relatively weak. This study has guiding significance for winter tourism destination development and resource spatial layout.

White belts of snow clad mountains all over the world each winter. Even if there is no snow, the tourism industry is able to produce the white finery at the push of the button, thereby consuming large amounts of water. Studying Damüls, a well-known ski resort in Austria's westernmost province Vorarlberg, we can show that the development of a service sector within agro-pastoral landscapes was connected with novel water uses and massive interventions into Alpine landscapes. Human niche construction theory offers a unique avenue for studying the development of Alpine communities, but also highlights side effects accompanying the change from agrarian to tourism livelihoods. One aim of this paper is to broaden the scope of human niche construction theory. Inceptive, counteractive and relocational niche construction activities were coupled to the differentiation of actor groups. To incorporate social dynamics, indispensable for studies in environmental history, we propose the concept of socio-ecological niche construction. The paper investigates how villagers balanced resource limitations typical for an agrarian society with the differentiation of sub-niches, mediating selective forces on the population. When the valleys were industrialized, Damüls was almost given up as a permanent settlement. Then, tourists entered the stage, by and by turning the wheel of local development into a different direction. A tourism niche based on natural snow evolved from the 1930s onwards. While the socio-ecological niches of agriculture and tourism coexisted in the interwar years, this changed when ski lifts were built, embedded into a debt-based economy that made the tourism niche vulnerable to snow availability. Snow-dependency became a powerful selective force. It was mediated by the ski lift companies through a range of niche construction activities that turned water into an important resource of snowmaking systems.