Smyth Lucy K, Balme Guy A, O'Riain M Justin
Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Panthera, New York, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 May 22;20(5):e0324329. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324329. eCollection 2025.
Spatial avoidance is one of the most pervasive responses of wildlife to human disturbance, but new research is increasingly revealing the importance of temporal shifts in activity. Animal species appear to become more nocturnal in areas with greater levels of human disturbance given the predominantly diurnal nature of anthropogenic activity. Here we investigate the relative importance of anthropogenic (relative abundance of pedestrians only, vehicles only and humans on foot and in vehicles combined, artificial light at night and distance to reserve edge or human settlements) and ecological (relative abundance of potential prey and potential competitors, temperature, season and lunar light) factors on the activity patterns of leopards (Panthera pardus) in the greater Kruger National Park (KNP) region of southern Africa. We use independent captures from camera trap data collected across 10 sites in and around central and southern KNP as an index of leopard activity, and kernel density models to estimate activity patterns of leopards. No differences in overall leopard activity levels were evident between sites but activity patterns within a 24-hour period differed. These differences were best explained by the relative abundance of pedestrians, with the relative abundance of all humans (on foot or in a vehicle) affecting timing of leopard activity almost as strongly, followed by the relative abundance of vehicles. Leopard activity also varied significantly with the lunar cycle, peaking around full moon. These results suggest that diel leopard activity patterns in South Africa's largest protected area are primarily driven by anthropogenic not environmental factors, though moonlight is important on the lunar scale. The sensitivity of leopard activity to nocturnal illumination from the moon urges caution regarding levels of human induced artificial light at night which are increasing globally, and could reach a threshold at which they begin to affect leopard activity patterns.
空间回避是野生动物对人类干扰最普遍的反应之一，但新的研究越来越多地揭示了活动时间变化的重要性。鉴于人为活动主要是白天进行，在人类干扰程度较高的地区，动物物种似乎变得更加夜行性。在这里，我们调查了人为因素（仅行人、仅车辆以及步行和乘车的人类的相对丰度、夜间人造光以及到保护区边缘或人类住区的距离）和生态因素（潜在猎物和潜在竞争者的相对丰度、温度、季节和月光）对非洲南部大克鲁格国家公园（KNP）地区豹（Panthera pardus）活动模式的相对重要性。我们使用从KNP中部和南部及其周边10个地点收集的相机陷阱数据中的独立捕获量作为豹活动的指标，并使用核密度模型来估计豹的活动模式。各地点之间豹的总体活动水平没有明显差异，但24小时内的活动模式有所不同。这些差异最好由行人的相对丰度来解释，所有人类（步行或乘车）的相对丰度对豹活动时间的影响几乎同样强烈，其次是车辆的相对丰度。豹的活动也随月相周期显著变化，在满月左右达到峰值。这些结果表明，在南非最大的保护区，豹的昼夜活动模式主要由人为因素而非环境因素驱动，尽管月光在月尺度上很重要。豹的活动对月光夜间照明的敏感性促使人们对全球范围内不断增加的人为夜间人造光水平保持谨慎，并且人造光可能会达到一个阈值，开始影响豹的活动模式。
