Molluscs as bioindicators of tourism pressure on ecosystems of Dilijan National Park, Armenia

ABSTRACT Research on the impact of tourism on ecosystems in protected areas has grown in recent years as a part of the debate on how to efficiently combine the use and conservation of natural habitats. Various taxa have been used as indicators through the use of invertebrate animals that have remained modest. The impact of uncontrolled flow of tourism on indicator species richness and diversity in the Dilijan National Park was studied. Diversity, species richness, and abundance of terrestrial molluscs were used as response variables to analyze the impact of tourism on ecosystems for the first time. We found significant differences in the diversity, species richness, and abundance of terrestrial molluscs between the control and experimental plots. Species richness and abundance were not so different in spring but in the autumn almost twice higher total abundance and species richness were detected in control plots. Moreover, out of 31 detected species, the 5 rare ones were found in control plots with low human presence. We conclude that the high intensity of tourism harms the communities of land snails. We suggest that terrestrial molluscs show sensitivity to human presence and can be used to study the direct impact of tourism-related ecosystems in protected areas.