Manenti Raoul, Mori Emiliano, Di Canio Viola, Mercurio Silvia, Picone Marco, Caffi Mario, Brambilla Mattia, Ficetola Gentile Francesco, Rubolini Diego
Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Biol Conserv. 2020 Sep;249:108728. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108728. Epub 2020 Aug 21.
The COVID-19 pandemic zoonosis has determined extensive lockdowns worldwide that provide an unprecedented opportunity to understand how large-scale shifts of human activities can impact wildlife. We addressed the impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on wildlife in Italy, the first European country that performed a countrywide lockdown, and identified potentially beneficial and negative consequences for wildlife conservation and management. We combined a qualitative analysis of social media information with field data from multiple taxa, data from citizen science projects, and questionnaires addressed to managers of protected areas. Both social media information and field data suggest that a reduction of human disturbance allowed wildlife to exploit new habitats and increase daily activity. The field data confirmed some positive effects on wildlife conservation, such as an increase in species richness in temporarily less-disturbed habitats, a higher breeding success of an aerial insectivorous bird, and reduction of road-killing of both amphibians and reptiles. Despite some positive effects, our data also highlighted several negative impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on wildlife. The lower human disturbance linked to lockdown was in fact beneficial for invasive alien species. Results from questionnaires addressed to managers of protected areas highlighted that the COVID-19 lockdown interrupted actions for the control of invasive alien species, and hampered conservation activities targeting threatened taxa. Furthermore, the reduction of enforcement could cause a surge of illegal killing of wildlife. The COVID-19 crisis, besides having deep socio-economic impacts, might profoundly affect wildlife conservation, with potentially long-lasting effects.
新冠疫情引发的人畜共患病在全球范围内导致了大规模封锁，这为了解人类活动的大规模转变如何影响野生动物提供了前所未有的机会。我们研究了意大利全国范围封锁对野生动物的影响，意大利是欧洲首个实施全国范围封锁的国家，并确定了对野生动物保护和管理可能产生的积极和消极后果。我们将社交媒体信息的定性分析与来自多个分类群的实地数据、公民科学项目的数据以及向保护区管理人员发放的问卷相结合。社交媒体信息和实地数据均表明，人类干扰的减少使野生动物能够利用新的栖息地并增加日常活动。实地数据证实了对野生动物保护的一些积极影响，例如在暂时干扰较少的栖息地物种丰富度增加、一种食虫鸟类的繁殖成功率提高以及两栖动物和爬行动物道路死亡数量减少。尽管有一些积极影响，但我们的数据也凸显了新冠疫情危机对野生动物的若干负面影响。与封锁相关的人类干扰减少实际上对外来入侵物种有利。向保护区管理人员发放的问卷结果显示，新冠疫情封锁中断了控制外来入侵物种的行动，并阻碍了针对受威胁分类群的保护活动。此外，执法力度的减弱可能导致野生动物非法捕杀激增。新冠疫情危机除了产生深刻的社会经济影响外，可能会对野生动物保护产生深远影响，并可能产生长期影响。
