Immediate and cumulative stresses associated with the multiscale impacts of ecotourism on ecological status and resilience

Anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems across spatiotemporal scales are expanding globally, undermining ecosystem resilience and increasing the risk of regime shifts within ecosystems. Governance incorporating social–ecological considerations has become essential. Here, we investigate two kinds of spatiotemporal multiscale impacts of ecotourism: “fast-acting and spatially-limited” impacts, and “slow-acting and large-scale” impacts. We showed that high levels of ecotourism impacts operating at multiple scales can generate an alternative stable state, and a potential simplification of our discussion resorting to the existence of multiple scales in the system. Our study provides insights into resilient ecotourism under the multiscale dynamics that can inform management decisions at appropriate scales.