Author:
Anderson Alissa K.,Waller John S.,Thornton Daniel H.
Abstract
AbstractHuman presence exerts complex effects on the ecology of species, which has implications for biodiversity persistence in protected areas experiencing increasing human recreation levels. However, the difficulty of separating the effect on species of human presence from other environmental or disturbance gradients remains a challenge. The cessation of human activity that occurred with COVID-19 restrictions provides a ‘natural experiment’ to better understand the influence of human presence on wildlife. Here, we use a COVID-19 closure within a heavily visited and highly protected national park (Glacier National Park, MT, USA) to examine how ‘low-impact’ recreational hiking affects the spatiotemporal ecology of a diverse mammal community. Based on data collected from camera traps when the park was closed and then subsequently open to recreation, we found consistent negative responses to human recreation across most of our assemblage of 24 species, with fewer detections, reduced site use, and decreased daytime activity. Our results suggest that the dual mandates of national parks and protected areas to conserve biodiversity and promote recreation have potential to be in conflict, even for presumably innocuous recreational activities. There is an urgent need to understand the fitness consequences of these spatiotemporal changes to inform management decisions in protected areas.
Funder
The Glacier National Park Conservancy
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference55 articles.
1. Laundré, J. W., Hernández, L. & Altendorf, K. B. Wolves, elk, and bison: reestablishing the “landscape of fear” in Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A.. Can. J. Zool. 79, 1401–1409 (2001).
2. Laundré, J. W., Hernandez, L. & Ripple, W. J. The landscape of fear: Ecological implications of being afraid. Open Ecol. J. 3, 1–7 (2010).
3. Suraci, J. P., Clinchy, M., Zanette, L. Y. & Wilmers, C. C. Fear of humans as apex predators has landscape-scale impacts from mountain lions to mice. Ecol. Lett. 22, 1578–1586 (2019).
4. Miller, S. G., Knight, R. L. & Miller, C. K. Wildlife responses to pedestrians and dogs. Wildl. Soc. B. 29, 124–132 (2001).
5. Larson, C., Reed, S., Merenlender, A. M. & Crooks, K. R. Effects of recreation on animals revealed as widespread through a global systemic review. PLoS ONE 11, 1–21 (2016).
Cited by
5 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献