Wang Yiwei, Smith Justine A, Wilmers Christopher C
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, 524 Valley Way, Milpitas, CA, United States of America.
Center for Integrated Spatial Research, Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 Oct 11;12(10):e0184687. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184687. eCollection 2017.
Human development strongly influences large carnivore survival and persistence globally. Behavior changes are often the first measureable responses to human disturbances, and can have ramifications on animal populations and ecological communities. We investigated how a large carnivore responds to anthropogenic disturbances by measuring activity, movement behavior, and energetics in pumas along a housing density gradient. We used log-linear analyses to examine how habitat, time of day, and proximity to housing influenced the activity patterns of both male and female pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We used spatial GPS location data in combination with Overall Dynamic Body Acceleration measurements recorded by onboard accelerometers to quantify how development density affected the average distances traveled and energy expended by pumas. Pumas responded to development differently depending on the time of day; at night, they were generally more active and moved further when they were in developed areas, but these relationships were not consistent during the day. Higher nighttime activity in developed areas increased daily caloric expenditure by 10.1% for females and 11.6% for males, resulting in increases of 3.4 and 4.0 deer prey required annually by females and males respectively. Our results support that pumas have higher energetic costs and resource requirements in human-dominated habitats due to human-induced behavioral change. Increased energetic costs for pumas are likely to have ramifications on prey species and exacerbate human-wildlife conflict, especially as exurban growth continues. Future conservation work should consider the consequences of behavioral shifts on animal energetics, individual fitness, and population viability.
人类发展在全球范围内对大型食肉动物的生存和延续有着重大影响。行为变化往往是对人类干扰的首个可测量反应，并且会对动物种群和生态群落产生影响。我们通过测量沿住房密度梯度分布的美洲狮的活动、移动行为和能量消耗，来研究大型食肉动物对人为干扰的反应。我们使用对数线性分析来检验栖息地、一天中的时间以及与住房的距离如何影响圣克鲁斯山脉中雄性和雌性美洲狮的活动模式。我们将空间GPS位置数据与车载加速度计记录的总体动态身体加速度测量数据相结合，以量化发展密度如何影响美洲狮的平均移动距离和能量消耗。美洲狮对发展的反应因一天中的时间而异；在夜间，当它们处于发达地区时，通常更活跃且移动得更远，但在白天这些关系并不一致。发达地区较高的夜间活动使雌性美洲狮的每日热量消耗增加了10.1%，雄性增加了11.6%，分别导致雌性和雄性每年所需的鹿类猎物增加3.4只和4.0只。我们的结果表明，由于人类引起的行为变化，美洲狮在人类主导的栖息地中具有更高的能量成本和资源需求。美洲狮能量成本的增加可能会对猎物物种产生影响，并加剧人类与野生动物的冲突，尤其是随着城市边缘地区的持续发展。未来的保护工作应考虑行为转变对动物能量学、个体适应性和种群生存能力的影响。
