Online Environment as a Tool to Push Forward the Research: An Example for Landscape Disservices

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have had to find different resources in order to continue their research and the use of online information can represent a temporary solution. Our research is mainly focusing on a landscape which offers services and disservices. Recently, numerous studies that rely on landscape disservices have appeared. We associate wildlife-human-interactions (WHI) and human-wildlife-interactions (HWI) as part of landscape disservices. More precisely, in the first category (WHI) we have included the interaction of the wild animals with human and in the second category (HWI) we have created a database with animals attacked or/and killed by human. In order to sustain this analysis, we have selected data from local newspapers and Facebook groups, which supports our hypothesis that online resources could provide valuable data. The study area is represented by the Southern and Eastern Carpathians. The most affected mammals for this type of interactions (HWI) are bears, followed by wild boars and red deer, while WHI has intensified in the last five years. Based on the analysed data we can conclude that the animals who generate the most disservices to humans are bears and wild boars. The solutions we have identified, which also include online sources, for both HWI and WHI are relocation, rescue, capturing of the animals in reservations or, as a last resort, euthanasia. In order to reduce these types of interactions it is important to promote ecological education, development and promoting of certain attitudes and behaviour that have a visible impact upon HWI and WHI.