Researchers in a new study say visitor activities in caves in Cambodia pose challenges for conservation, noting that human disturbance is often detrimental to populations, which in turn take substantial time to recover from declines.
Researchers carried out their field work in Phnom Chhngok, a limestone karst outcropping popular with tourists in Kampot province. The study was published on Monday in the peer-reviewed PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease journal.
“While the impact of visitor disturbance on population recruitment cannot be empirically assessed due to the absence of historical data for cave bat populations in Cambodia, it is nonetheless likely to have been considerable and raises a conservation concern,” the researchers write. “Uncontrolled human disturbance often leads to decrease in numbers of bats roosting in caves and numerous studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of cave tourism in particular.”
