Lei Tao, Peng Hua, Zhang Han, Ban Ying, Zaman Muhammad, Xiang Zuofu, Guo Cheng
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Central South University of Forestry & Technology, Changsha 410004, China.
Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Biology, Central South University of Forestry & Technology, Changsha 410004, China.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Mar 25;15(7):935. doi: 10.3390/ani15070935.
We measured the alert distance (AD), flight-initiation distance (FID), buffer distance (BD), and distance fled (DF) of Himalayan marmots () from four populations experiencing human disturbances of the same persistence but different intensities when subjected to varied stimuli (a running or walking man with or without a leashed dog and a dog alone). We analyzed the effects of different stimuli on the AD, FID, BD, and DF of marmots from each population and the relationship among the AD, FID, and DF to illustrate the escape strategy diversification of the studied marmots for different human disturbances when disturbed by varied stimuli. We found that intra-population diversification emerged when the marmots were threatened by different stimuli. The AD and FID were shorter when an individual was walking toward than when he was running toward the focal marmots. A man with a leashed dog as a stimulus produced a similar result to that of a man alone. Nevertheless, no diversification emerged when a single dog was the threat, and all three distances triggered due to the dog were significantly shorter than those triggered due to a man alone (walking or running) or a man with a leashed dog approaching the marmots. Inter-population diversification also emerged when the marmots from the four populations were disturbed by the same stimulus: when threatened by an individual or a man with a leashed dog, their escape behavior was determined by the intensity of the disturbance. The changes in the AD and FID were similar across all four populations, with the two distances increasing with the decrease in disturbance intensity, but the DF showed no significant variation across all the four areas. No significant inter-population diversification emerged when the marmots were threatened by a single dog. These diversifications may result from the different levels of habituation of marmots to human disturbances and the different sizes and, consequently, visibilities of humans and dogs.
我们测量了来自四个种群的喜马拉雅旱獭在受到不同刺激（带着或不带着拴绳狗跑步或行走的人以及单独的狗）时的警戒距离（AD）、飞行起始距离（FID）、缓冲距离（BD）和逃窜距离（DF），这四个种群受到人类干扰的持续时间相同但强度不同。我们分析了不同刺激对每个种群旱獭的AD、FID、BD和DF的影响以及AD、FID和DF之间的关系，以说明所研究的旱獭在受到不同刺激干扰时针对不同人类干扰的逃逸策略多样化。我们发现，当旱獭受到不同刺激威胁时，种群内部出现了多样化。当一个人朝着焦点旱獭行走时，AD和FID比他跑步时要短。带着拴绳狗的人作为刺激产生的结果与单独一个人时相似。然而，当单独一只狗构成威胁时，没有出现多样化，并且由于狗触发的所有三个距离都明显短于由于单独一个人（行走或跑步）或带着拴绳狗的人接近旱獭时触发的距离。当来自四个种群的旱獭受到相同刺激干扰时，种群间也出现了多样化：当受到一个人或带着拴绳狗的人威胁时，它们的逃逸行为由干扰强度决定。所有四个种群的AD和FID变化相似，这两个距离随着干扰强度的降低而增加，但DF在所有四个区域没有显著变化。当旱獭受到单独一只狗威胁时，没有出现显著的种群间多样化。这些多样化可能源于旱獭对人类干扰的不同习惯化程度以及人和狗的不同大小，进而不同的可见性。
