Xu Wenxuan, Wang Muyang, Blank David, Alves da Silva António, Yang Weikang, Ruckstuhl Kathreen E, Alves Joana
State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
The Specimen Museum of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
Biology (Basel). 2022 Aug 19;11(8):1236. doi: 10.3390/biology11081236.
Nonlethal human disturbances have been confirmed to have a negative effect on wildlife in a variety of ways, including on behaviors. In many studies, the impact of human disturbances on gregarious species of wildlife is assessed through changes in their social organization and vigilance. In our study in the Kalamaili Nature Reserve, China, we wanted to estimate the impacts of differing levels of human disturbances on two different group types (mixed-sex and all-male) of goitered gazelle, , living in three functional zones (experimental, buffer, and core zones), which represent high, medium, and low human disturbance levels, respectively. In addition, we studied the time spent vigilant as a function of group size with different levels of human disturbances in the three zones. In general, mixed-sex gazelle groups were of similar sizes in the three different zones, while all-male groups slightly differed in their sizes between the experimental and buffer zones. This may indicate that human disturbances have varying effects on the different group types, with smaller-sized, single-sex groups being more significantly affected by human disturbances than larger-sized, mixed-sex groups. Goitered gazelle showed higher vigilance levels in the experimental zone than in the two other zones. A trend of decreasing vigilance varying linearly with group size was also found in the three zones, and the rate of decrease was higher in the experimental zone. Increased habitat fragmentation and human activities brought goitered gazelle and humans closer together in the core zone. Therefore, stopping mining activities and returning the reserve to a continuous habitat with fewer environmental disturbances is the best way to establish and protect a stable population of this endangered species of gazelle.
已证实非致命性的人类干扰会以多种方式对野生动物产生负面影响，包括对其行为的影响。在许多研究中，人类干扰对群居野生动物物种的影响是通过其社会组织和警惕性的变化来评估的。在我们对中国卡拉麦里自然保护区的研究中，我们想估计不同程度的人类干扰对两种不同群体类型（混合性别群体和全雄性群体）的鹅喉羚的影响，这些鹅喉羚生活在三个功能区（试验区、缓冲区和核心区），分别代表高、中、低人类干扰水平。此外，我们研究了在三个区域中，不同程度的人类干扰下，作为群体大小函数的警惕时间。总体而言，混合性别鹅喉羚群体在三个不同区域的大小相似，而全雄性群体在试验区和缓冲区之间的大小略有不同。这可能表明人类干扰对不同群体类型有不同影响，体型较小的单性别群体比体型较大的混合性别群体受人类干扰的影响更大。鹅喉羚在试验区的警惕水平高于其他两个区域。在三个区域中还发现了警惕性随群体大小呈线性下降的趋势，且在试验区下降速率更高。核心区内栖息地破碎化加剧和人类活动增加，使鹅喉羚与人类的距离更近。因此，停止采矿活动并使保护区恢复为环境干扰较少的连续栖息地，是建立和保护这种濒危羚羊稳定种群的最佳方式。
