[Pollinator] Hikers and Pollinators?

[Peter Bernhardt]

The New York Times published an Op-Ed piece recently that drew a number of
critical letters to the editor.  The author insists that visitors to wild
areas have a negative impact on wildlife even when they do not hunt,
collect or sample.  Here is the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/opinion/sunday/leaving-only-footsteps-think-again.html

Do we have scientific literature on pollinators and pollination rates in
"wild areas" comparing pollinator diversity/density and reproductive
success (fruit and/or seed set) along accessible trails or in accessible
sites?

1) Is there statistical evidence that, where human traffic is consistent
over the flowering season do sightings of large, native pollinators
(bumblebees, hummingbirds, butterflies, sphinx moths) decline where hikers
are most frequent?

2)  Is there statistical evidence that, where human traffic is consistent
over the flowering season does fruit and seed set drop in plants along a
known trail vs. more isolated areas where hikers/climbers do not go?

These are testable hypotheses if they have not been tested to date.  It's
my guess that it's another case of different strokes for different folks.
Pollinator density/diversity and fruit-seed success are most likely to
decline in areas where people don't stay on paths and pick our trample
wildflowers.  I would also argue that different pollinators have different
fear-factors.  A walk on the public trail in Waimea Canyon (Kauai) , 9
years ago, astounded me.  The trail was packed with people but the native
Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) trees were all in bloom and the two or three
native species of honeycreeper birds (drepanids in two genera) were easily
spotted foraging for nectar on flowering trees fringing sides of the
trail.  I often saw more than one bird and/or more than one species on the
same tree.  On the other hand, I've seen picnic sites in El Salvador on
busy weekends vs. slow weekdays.  Diversity of hummingbirds, and the
frequency of the visits to flowering shrubs, seemed far more common on the
slow days.  Do you think there is any human-based impact at all on hikers
or tourists viewing autumn meadows as monarchs migrate through them?

Peter
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