Gaynor Kaitlyn M, Wooster Eamonn I F, Martinig April Robin, Green Jennifer R, Chhen Aimee, Cuadros Sandra, Gill Ryan, Khanal Gopal, Love Nicola, Marcus Rekha, Mills C Lauren, Wrensford Kwasi, Wright Nicholas S, Mezzini Stefano, Marley Jessa, Noonan Michael J
Department of Zoology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Department of Botany, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Ecol Lett. 2025 Jun;28(6):e70138. doi: 10.1111/ele.70138.
As anthropogenic disturbance restructures ecological communities worldwide, ecologists have developed and tested hypotheses about which species "win" and "lose" in the face of human impacts. One heavily invoked paradigm is that of the human shield, which posits that predators avoid areas of human disturbance due to perceived risk from humans, and prey therefore seek refuge in these areas of perceived safety. Since its introduction in 2007, the human shield hypothesis (HSH) has gained popularity in the ecological literature, although there are more passing mentions of human shields than there are robust tests of the HSH. Here, we systematically review evidence for the HSH and evaluate how it is commonly discussed and tested. While there are several clear-cut cases of human shields, the emergence of human shields is highly context-dependent. By formally outlining the assumptions of the HSH, we derive predictions about what ecological and anthropogenic contexts are most likely to be conducive to human shields. Further robust studies that compete the HSH against alternative hypotheses and account for confounding factors can shed light on the role of human shields in human-modified ecosystems and inform the conservation and management of wildlife in a changing world.
随着人为干扰在全球范围内重塑生态群落，生态学家们已经提出并检验了关于哪些物种在人类影响面前“胜出”和“落败”的假设。一个被频繁引用的范例是人类盾牌假说，该假说认为捕食者会因感知到来自人类的风险而避开人类干扰区域，因此猎物会在这些被视为安全的区域寻求庇护。自2007年被提出以来，人类盾牌假说（HSH）在生态文献中受到了广泛关注，尽管对人类盾牌的提及多于对该假说的严格检验。在这里，我们系统地回顾了支持人类盾牌假说的证据，并评估了它在常见讨论和检验中的情况。虽然有几个明确的人类盾牌案例，但人类盾牌的出现高度依赖于具体情境。通过正式阐述人类盾牌假说的假设，我们得出了关于哪些生态和人为情境最有可能有利于人类盾牌形成的预测。进一步的严格研究，将人类盾牌假说与其他假说进行比较，并考虑混杂因素，能够揭示人类盾牌在人类改造的生态系统中的作用，并为变化世界中的野生动物保护和管理提供参考。
