MSc, PhD Candidate
Griffith School of Environment
Student Member, Environmental Futures Centre
Email: a.barros@griffith.edu.au
Project Title
Tourism in High Mountain Protected Areas: Use and environmental impacts of tourism in Aconcagua Provincial Park
Project Description
Aconcagua Provincial Park is located in the Central Andes in Mendoza, Argentina. The thesis assesses the scale and types of ecological impacts from tourism use and associated activities in the Park at the landscape level. This includes impacts from the four main players: tourists, commercial operators, transport providers and the park agency when they are providing support for tourism in the Park. It will also identify the key factors affecting the management of ecological impacts from tourism use.
The specific objectives are:
- Analyse the temporal and spatial patterns of use of the four groups working in the Park.
- Assess the ecological impacts of tourism in the Park at the landscape level.
- Assess the severity of impacts according to the different altitudinal zones, ecosystem types and type of activity.
- Assess the severity of impacts according to the different groups involved in tourism in the Park
- Assess in detail three key aspects of the impacts of recreation and tourism in the Park – weeds, grazing and trampling.
- Assess the distribution and abundance of weeds along roadsides and trails in the intensive use areas of the Park.
- Assess the effect of grazing by mules on alpine meadow vegetation cover, composition and productivity Compare the effects of trampling by people and mules on vegetation and soils
Supervisors
- Associate Professor Catherine Pickering (Principle)
- Professor Ralf Buckley (Associate)
Research Interests
- Protected areas management (planning, zoning protected areas, designing monitoring programs)
- GIS (vegetation mapping, remote sensing)
- Recreation ecology (impacts on vegetation and soil due to trampling and camping)
Publications
- Pickering, C.M., Rossi, S. and Barros, A. (Under Review) Assessing the impacts of mountain biking and hiking on subalpine grasslands using an experimental protocol. Journal of Environmental Management
- Pickering, C.M. and Barros, A. (Accepted with publication in 2011). Mountain Environments and Tourism. In: Holden A. and Fennell D. Handbook of Tourism and the Environment. Routledge, London.
- Barros, Agustina and Gonnet, Jorge. Tourist Activity Impact on Mountain Vegetation and Soil, Quebrada de Horcones, Aconcagua Provincial Park, Mendoza, Argentina (Spanish and English). Paper presented at High Summit 2002, Worldwide Multiconference, Latin America, Mendoza, Argentina.
- Barros, Agustina and Peralta, Patricia. Tourist Activity Impact on High Andes Lakes According to Algae, Planktonic and Benthonic Communities, Aconcagua Provincial Park, Season 2001‐2002 (Spanish and English). Paper presented at High Summit 2002, Worldwide Multiconference, Latin America, Mendoza, Argentina, May 6‐10.
- Khatoon, Salima., Barros, Agustina and Sharma, Prashant. 2004. Mountain Forum Reaching the Grassroots Through Community Radio. Mountain Research and Development, Volume 24, Number 4, p. 353 g
- Barros, Agustina and Gonnet, Jorge. 2003. Tourist Activity Impact on Mountain Vegetation and Soil, Quebrada de Horcones, Aconcagua Provincial Park, Mendoza, Argentina. Paper presented at Namche Conference, People Park and Mountain Ecotourism, Namche Bazaar, Nepal, May 24‐26.
- Barros, Agustina., Villalba Ricardo and Masiokas, Mariano. Climate change and Patagonian Glaciers. Mountain Forum Bulletin, Volume II, Issue 2, July 2007, pp. 42‐43.
- Barros, Agustina., Zalazar, Laura., Brandi, Soledad; Aloy, Gustavo.,Sleme, Eduardo and Muñoz, Eduardo. 2006. Mapa de Vegetación de Telteca, Lavalle, Mendoza, Argentina. [Telteca Vegetation Map, Lavalle, Mendoza, Argentina]. Paper presented at the “National Vegetation Congress, Mendoza, Argentina, September 2006.”