Swiss Ornithological Institute, Seerose 1, CH-6204, Sempach, Switzerland.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2017 Feb;92(1):216-233. doi: 10.1111/brv.12224. Epub 2015 Oct 14.
Outdoor recreation is increasing in intensity and space. Areas previously inaccessible are now being visited by ever-growing numbers of people, which increases human-wildlife encounters across habitats. This has raised concern among researchers and conservationists as, even in non-aggressive encounters, animals often perceive humans as predators and mount physiological and behavioural responses that can have negative consequences. However, despite all the research in recent decades, not many general patterns have emerged, especially at the level of populations, and many studies have yielded seemingly contradictory or inconclusive results. We argue that this is partly due to incomplete knowledge of the number and complexity of factors that may modulate the responses of animals. Thus, we aim to provide a conceptual approach intended to highlight the reasons that make it difficult to detect general patterns. We present a comprehensive compilation of factors modulating animal responses to humans at increasing levels (from sensory detection and immediate behavioural and physiological reactions, to changes in fitness and population trends), which may help understanding the uncertainty in the patterns. We observed that there are many modulating factors, which can be categorized as reflecting characteristics of the recreational activity itself (e.g. intensity of human presence), of the animals concerned (e.g. age or antipredatory strategy), and of the spatio-temporal context (e.g. habitat or timing of the encounter). Some factors appear to have non-linear and complex effects, which, if not considered, may lead to erroneous conclusions. Finally, we conclude that the difficulty in finding general patterns will be amplified at higher levels (i.e. at the level of populations), since as we proceed from one level to the next, the number of potential modulating factors accumulates, adding noise and obscuring direct associations between recreation and wildlife. More comprehensive knowledge about which (and how) factors affect animal responses across levels will certainly improve future research design and interpretation, and thus, our understanding of human recreational impacts on wildlife.
户外休闲活动的强度和空间都在增加。以前无法进入的区域现在正被越来越多的人访问，这增加了在各种栖息地中人与野生动物相遇的机会。这引起了研究人员和保护主义者的关注，因为即使在非攻击性的相遇中，动物通常也会将人类视为捕食者，并产生可能产生负面影响的生理和行为反应。然而，尽管近几十年来进行了所有研究，并没有出现很多普遍模式，特别是在种群水平上，而且许多研究得出的结果似乎相互矛盾或没有定论。我们认为，这部分是由于对可能调节动物反应的因素的数量和复杂性的不完全了解。因此，我们旨在提供一种概念方法，旨在强调使人们难以发现普遍模式的原因。我们提出了一个综合的因素汇编，这些因素可以调节动物对人类的反应，从感官检测和即时的行为和生理反应，到适应力和种群趋势的变化，这可能有助于理解模式中的不确定性。我们观察到有许多调节因素，可以分为反映休闲活动本身特征的因素（例如人类存在的强度）、有关动物的特征（例如年龄或捕食防御策略）以及时空背景的因素（例如栖息地或相遇的时间）。一些因素似乎具有非线性和复杂的影响，如果不考虑这些因素，可能会导致错误的结论。最后，我们得出结论，由于从一个水平到另一个水平，潜在的调节因素数量增加，增加了噪音并模糊了休闲和野生动物之间的直接联系，因此在更高水平（即种群水平）上找到普遍模式的难度将被放大。关于哪些（以及如何）因素在不同水平上影响动物反应的更全面的知识肯定会提高未来的研究设计和解释，从而提高我们对人类休闲活动对野生动物的影响的理解。
