Kuypers Wim, Bollen Martijn, Casaer Jim, Beenaerts Natalie
Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Geography, Institute of Life Earth and Environment, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium; Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Brussels, Belgium.
Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Brussels, Belgium.
Sci Total Environ. 2025 Jul 28;996:180091. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180091.
Protected areas face the challenge of balancing conservation goals with increasing recreational use, which can strongly influence behavioural changes of wildlife and, consequently, affect ecosystem functioning. Understanding the impacts of various recreational activities on wildlife behaviour is essential for guiding targeted management strategies and supporting sustainable conservation practices. In the 60 km, highly visited Hoge Kempen National Park (Belgium), we assessed habitat preferences and the seasonal impact of hiking, mountain biking, and tarmac cycling trail densities on the land use of roe deer, wild boar, and red fox. From May 2018 until May 2019, camera traps were used to monitor wildlife. Since individual animals could not be uniquely identified and the detection is imperfect, we used N-mixture models to estimate spatial variation in their land use, given their detection probability. We revealed species-specific seasonal differences in the impact of recreational trails and habitats. From all recreational trail types, hiking had the most negative impact on land use of roe deer and wild boar, while the impact of cycling and mountain biking trails was only negative in Spring. Furthermore, hiking and cycling trails had a more negative impact on land use of roe deer during the day than at night. In contrast, red fox selected areas with high recreational trail density in multiple seasons. These findings underscore the difference and seasonality in the impact of various recreation types on wildlife land use, highlighting the need for recreation monitoring and adaptive management strategies to mitigate or leverage recreational pressures on wildlife.
保护区面临着在保护目标与日益增加的娱乐活动之间取得平衡的挑战，娱乐活动会强烈影响野生动物的行为变化，进而影响生态系统功能。了解各种娱乐活动对野生动物行为的影响对于指导有针对性的管理策略和支持可持续保护实践至关重要。在游客众多的比利时霍赫肯彭国家公园60公里范围内，我们评估了徒步、山地自行车和柏油路自行车道密度对狍、野猪和赤狐土地利用的栖息地偏好和季节性影响。从2018年5月到2019年5月，使用相机陷阱监测野生动物。由于无法唯一识别个体动物且检测并不完美，我们使用N混合模型根据其检测概率估计它们土地利用的空间变化。我们揭示了娱乐步道和栖息地影响方面特定物种的季节性差异。在所有娱乐步道类型中，徒步对狍和野猪的土地利用负面影响最大，而自行车道和山地自行车道的影响仅在春季为负面。此外，徒步和自行车道在白天对狍土地利用的负面影响大于夜间。相比之下，赤狐在多个季节选择娱乐步道密度高的区域。这些发现强调了各种娱乐类型对野生动物土地利用影响的差异和季节性，突出了对娱乐活动进行监测和采取适应性管理策略以减轻或利用对野生动物的娱乐压力的必要性。
