Nix Joshua H, Howell Ryan G, Hall Lucas K, McMillan Brock R
Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, United States.
Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, United States.
Behav Processes. 2018 Jan;146:16-21. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.11.002. Epub 2017 Nov 6.
Human recreation can negatively affect wildlife, particularly on weekends when human activity is highest (i.e., the weekend effect). Much of what we understand about the weekend effect is based on research conducted on diurnal species, which have greater temporal overlap with humans. Because nocturnal species generally avoid times when humans are active, they are likely less affected by anthropogenic activity on weekends. Our objective was to test the weekend effect in relation to the degree of nocturnality of mammals in a recreational area. We predicted that as nocturnality increased, the effect of human activity would decrease. To address our objective, we placed 50 remote cameras along the Diamond Fork River in Utah from January to June 2015. We found that three out of the four focal species supported our predictions. Mule deer (crepuscular) reduced activity throughout our entire study area during weekends and avoided campgrounds. Beavers and mountain lions (both nocturnal) did not negatively respond to increased human activity. Raccoons (nocturnal) reduced activity during weekends, but only within campground areas. Our findings indicate that as the temporal overlap increases between wildlife and humans, so does the influence that humans have on wildlife.
人类活动会对野生动物产生负面影响，尤其是在周末人类活动最为频繁的时候（即周末效应）。我们对周末效应的大部分了解都基于对昼行性物种的研究，这些物种与人类在时间上的重叠度更高。由于夜行性物种通常会避开人类活动的时段，它们在周末受人为活动的影响可能较小。我们的目标是在一个休闲区域测试与哺乳动物夜行性程度相关的周末效应。我们预测，随着夜行性增强，人类活动的影响会减弱。为了实现我们的目标，2015年1月至6月期间，我们在犹他州的钻石叉河沿岸放置了50台远程摄像机。我们发现，四种重点研究物种中有三种支持我们的预测。骡鹿（晨昏性）在整个研究区域内周末活动减少，并避开露营地。海狸和美洲狮（均为夜行性）对人类活动增加没有负面反应。浣熊（夜行性）在周末活动减少，但仅在露营地范围内。我们的研究结果表明，野生动物与人类在时间上的重叠度越高，人类对野生动物的影响就越大。
