Interacting lethal and nonlethal human activities shape complex risk tolerance behaviors in a mountain herbivore

Area of Science:

• Wildlife ecology
• Behavioral ecology
• Conservation biology

Background:

• Animals exhibit fear-driven behaviors to mitigate risks from human activities.
• Diel migrations (DMs) help animals avoid daytime disturbances but incur costs.
• Habituation can reduce fear responses, but complex risk landscapes pose challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess chamois' adjustments to human-induced fear landscapes with co-occurring lethal and nonlethal disturbances.
• To investigate how habituation influences chamois' tolerance to human activities across seasons.
• To understand the consequences of altered tolerance on individual survival.

Main Methods:

• GPS tracking of 89 chamois over individual-years in the French Alps.
• Analysis of diel migration (DM) dynamics in relation to trails and disturbance intensity.
• Application of periodograms and multinomial logistic models to assess behavioral responses.

Main Results:

• ~85% of chamois performed DMs to avoid daytime human disturbance, particularly during hiking and hunting periods.
• Increased tolerance was observed in highly disturbed individuals, suggesting habituation.
• Habituation during hiking season led to increased tolerance during hunting, elevating harvest risk.

Conclusions:

• Complex human-induced fear landscapes shape unexpected tolerance patterns in animals.
• Habituation to nonlethal disturbances may increase vulnerability to lethal ones.
• Altered animal tolerance to human activities can have deleterious consequences for survival.