Understanding mammal avoidance of human settlements

Area of Science:

• Wildlife ecology
• Conservation biology
• Human-wildlife interactions

Background:

• Anthropogenic land conversion pressures wildlife populations globally.
• Understanding animal responses to human activity requires disentangling static infrastructure from human presence.
• COVID-19 lockdowns offered a unique opportunity to study behavioral changes due to reduced human mobility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if terrestrial mammals altered movement behavior around buildings in response to reduced human mobility during COVID-19 lockdowns.
• To assess the influence of human footprint on animal responses to changing human activity.
• To understand wildlife behavioral plasticity in response to human behavioral shifts.

Main Methods:

• Compiled GPS tracking data from 586 individuals across 35 sites on five continents, covering 10 carnivore and 13 herbivore species.
• Utilized integrated step selection analysis to evaluate changes in animal avoidance of buildings.
• Leveraged the Microsoft MLBuildings dataset for global building locations and calculated Human Footprint Index (HFI).

Main Results:

• Animals in high Human Footprint Index (HFI) areas showed a significant reduction in building avoidance during COVID-19 lockdowns.
• No significant change in building avoidance was observed in low HFI areas or during non-lockdown periods.
• Behavioral changes were specific to the reduced human mobility during 2020 lockdowns.

Conclusions:

• Terrestrial mammals exhibit greater behavioral plasticity when human activity patterns change, particularly in areas with high human presence.
• Findings suggest a combination of environmental filtering and habituation influences wildlife responses.
• This study provides a foundation for forecasting wildlife movement in response to land-use, conservation, or environmental changes.