The effect of heatwaves on the number of visits to national parks and reserves.
Journal
PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
Titre abrégé: PLoS One
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101285081
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2023
2023
Historique:
received:
31
03
2023
accepted:
14
07
2023
medline:
11
8
2023
pubmed:
9
8
2023
entrez:
9
8
2023
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Climate change is leading to an increase in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves in many regions of the world. Climate change is also related to air pollution. Both heatwaves and air pollution have adverse health effects, and can also affect social behaviors, including tourism and touristic activities. The aim of this study was to examine the association between heatwaves, air pollution and visits to national parks and reserves in Israel. Data on 68,518 visits in 51 national parks and reserves in Israel in the years 2016-2019 was crossed with temperature and air pollution data (represented by particulate matter PM10) and analyzed using statistical tests. Number of visits, as a function of temperature followed a unimodal distribution, in which more visits were reported on mild temperature days (in comparison to hot or cold days). In addition, the number of visits in sites with beaches was linearly correlated with temperature. Negative associations were found between number of visits and heatwaves, and between number of visits and exceedances in PM10 levels. Heatwaves were shown to have a negative effect on the number of visits in national parks and reserves in Israel. The negative association between exceedances in air pollution and number of visits may be mediated by the positive correlation between air pollution exceedance events and heatwaves.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Climate change is leading to an increase in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves in many regions of the world. Climate change is also related to air pollution. Both heatwaves and air pollution have adverse health effects, and can also affect social behaviors, including tourism and touristic activities. The aim of this study was to examine the association between heatwaves, air pollution and visits to national parks and reserves in Israel.
METHODS
Data on 68,518 visits in 51 national parks and reserves in Israel in the years 2016-2019 was crossed with temperature and air pollution data (represented by particulate matter PM10) and analyzed using statistical tests.
RESULTS
Number of visits, as a function of temperature followed a unimodal distribution, in which more visits were reported on mild temperature days (in comparison to hot or cold days). In addition, the number of visits in sites with beaches was linearly correlated with temperature. Negative associations were found between number of visits and heatwaves, and between number of visits and exceedances in PM10 levels.
CONCLUSIONS
Heatwaves were shown to have a negative effect on the number of visits in national parks and reserves in Israel. The negative association between exceedances in air pollution and number of visits may be mediated by the positive correlation between air pollution exceedance events and heatwaves.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37556414
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289201
pii: PONE-D-23-09276
pmc: PMC10411752
doi:
Substances chimiques
Particulate Matter
0
Air Pollutants
0
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e0289201Informations de copyright
Copyright: © 2023 Barnett-Itzhaki et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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