Public affairs Press Press releases AcidRain Crabs Wind farms Bluetongue Ladybirds Bees Grouse Biofuel Conflict Pollen Flavonoids Horizon Capercaillie Fever New Forest Bears Bats Bumblebees Chernobyl Monarch TB3 Alpine birds Frankincense Ramon Margalef Award Beech Otters Iraq Vulture update 100questions uplands spermwhales parkgrass toads Greenworld Migration BCEF Eggs TB2 Bumblebee grant Birdsong WhaleSharks Flies Tansley TB Energy Sharks G8 Elephants Grasslands Primates Rivers Ski pistes Waterfleas Voles Kittiwakes and sandeels Vulture crisis Climate change Ancient woodland Education GM FSE Press opportunities Press cuttings Policy Priorities Science Policy Training Policy Advisory Groups Parliamentary Briefings Public and Policy Committee Consultation Responses Meetings Expertise Database Open Consultations Public Advisory Positions POST Fellowship Ecology into Policy Grant Public Engagement Grant Ministerial Shadowing Scheme Internship Affiliated Organisations Policy Links

BRITISH ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE

3 March 2008

Ski tourism stressing capercaillie

Ski tourism is raising stress levels among capercaillie, which could harm the birds’ fitness and ability to breed successfully, ecologists have found. Writing in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, researchers warn that forests should be kept free from tourism infrastructure if they are inhabited by capercaillie - a species whose numbers are declining markedly across central Europe.

The study by ecologists from Switzerland, Germany and Austria used a new technique to assess the impact of ski tourism on capercaillie. Working in the Southern Black Forest in Germany, they collected the birds’ droppings before and after the start of the ski season, and analysed them for levels of the breakdown products of the stress hormone corticosterone. They found that levels of the breakdown products of the stress hormone were significantly higher in birds living in areas with moderate or high levels of ski tourism.

One of the study's authors, Dr Lukas Jenni of the Swiss Ornithological Institute says: “Ski tourism affects both habitat use and stress hormone levels in capercaillie, and this could adversely affect their body condition and overall fitness. Because of this, we recommend that managers keep forests inhabited by capercaillie free from tourism infrastructure and retain undisturbed forest patches within skiing areas.”

According to Dr Jenni: “The level of winter sport activity and the introduction of new outdoor sports such as snow shoeing has increased drastically during the last decade and affects essential habitats or retreats for a number of rare or shy species such as black grouse and chamois. Human recreation activities in winter could be especially harmful to capercaillie because of the birds' reliance on a diet of low-quality conifer needles. Body condition at the end of winter has been shown to affect reproduction success of the related rock ptarmigan.”

Dominik Thiel et al (2008). Ski tourism affects habitat use and evokes a physiological response in capercaillie Tetrao urogallus: a new methodological approach. Journal of Applied Ecology, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01465.x, is published online on 3 March 2008.

- ends -

Notes for editors

1. For further information, please contact Dr Lukas Jenni, Swiss Ornithological Institute, tel: +41 41 462 97 00, email: Lukas.Jenni@vogelwarte.ch.

2. Copies of the paper are available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/jpe.

3. The Journal of Applied Ecology is published by Blackwell Publishing for the British Ecological Society. Contents lists are available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/jpe.

4. The British Ecological Society is a learned society, a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. Established in 1913 by academics to promote and foster the study of ecology in its widest sense, the Society has 4,000 members in the UK and abroad. Further information is available at www.britishecologicalsociety.org.

Copyright 2007 British Ecological Society. All Rights Reserved