资源和风险之间的权衡决定了大型食肉动物对人类干扰的反应
Kirby L Mills1, Jerrold L Belant2, Maya Beukes3
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. kimills@umich.edu.
Communications biology
|October 17, 2023
概括
像狮子这样的大型食肉动物在寻找食物和避开人类危险之间面临着艰难的选择. 资源稀缺会迫使狮子进入人类居住区,增加冲突和灭绝风险.
科学领域:
- 生态与保护生物学 生态与保护生物学
- 野生动物生态生态学
- 人与野生动物的互动
背景情况:
- 广泛的食肉动物在资源可用性和人类诱导的风险之间进行复杂的权衡.
- 了解这些权衡对食肉动物生态和保护至关重要,但大型食肉动物范围内的研究是有限的.
- 人类活动和环境变化对食肉动物种群及其生态作用构成重大威胁.
研究的目的:
- 调查资源的可用性和人为风险如何影响狮子 (Panthera leo) 对人类干扰的反应.
- 评估狮子在当代范围内的反应的变化.
- 了解这些反应对人类与食肉动物冲突和保护的影响.
主要方法:
- 从狮子当代分布的31个不同地点收集的数据.
- 分析的重点是将资源丰富度和人类干扰水平与狮子行为反应的相关性.
- 研究了影响狮子避免人类活动的因素,以及活动模式的转变 (例如,夜生活).
主要成果:
- 在超过三分之二的调查地点,狮子避免了人类的干扰.
- 响应的强度根据特定地点的资源可用性和人类影响而有很大差异.
- 资源限制迫使狮子进入人类主导的景观,可能增加人类和食肉动物之间的冲突.
- 增加夜间活动是减轻人类影响的常见策略,特别是在牛产量高的地方.
结论:
- 资源稀缺性可能会取代避免狮子面临人类风险,加剧人类和食肉动物之间的冲突.
- 狮子使用行为可塑性 (例如,夜生活) 来应对人类的存在,但这可能是不可持续的.
- 人类扩张和环境变化的协同效应威胁着食肉动物的生态功能,增加了灭绝风险.
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