Habituation, sensitization, or consistent behavioral responses? Brown bear responses after repeated approaches by humans on foot

Ordiz, Andrés; Moen, Gro Kvelprud; Sæbø, Solve; Stenset, Nina Emilie; Swenson, Jon E.; Støen, Ole‐Gunnar

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.01.016

Cited by 52 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…2a). Observational and manipulative studies have similarly found that risk from humans affects large carnivore behaviour across the landscape (Valeix et al 2012;Ordiz et al 2013bOrdiz et al , 2019Oriol-Cotterill et al 2015;Suraci et al 2019), including in our study area, where increased human development is correlated with impacts on mountain lion movement and habitat use (Wilmers et al 2013;Wang et al 2017). Our results confirm that, even in the absence of changes in human infrastructure (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Fear of humans as apex predators has landscape‐scale impacts from mountain lions to mice

et al. 2019

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Apex predators such as large carnivores can have cascading, landscape‐scale impacts across wildlife communities, which could result largely from the fear they inspire, although this has yet to be experimentally demonstrated. Humans have supplanted large carnivores as apex predators in many systems, and similarly pervasive impacts may now result from fear of the human ‘super predator’. We conducted a landscape‐scale playback experiment demonstrating that the sound of humans speaking generates a landscape of fear with pervasive effects across wildlife communities. Large carnivores avoided human voices and moved more cautiously when hearing humans, while medium‐sized carnivores became more elusive and reduced foraging. Small mammals evidently benefited, increasing habitat use and foraging. Thus, just the sound of a predator can have landscape‐scale effects at multiple trophic levels. Our results indicate that many of the globally observed impacts on wildlife attributed to anthropogenic activity may be explained by fear of humans.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Fear of humans as apex predators has landscape‐scale impacts from mountain lions to mice

et al. 2019

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“…Repeated capture and handling had strong negative effects on annual reproduction in the early years of monitoring, which decreased considerably in recent years, indicating habituation to capture and handling stress 32,72 . To our knowledge, similar reproduction responses to repeated capture events have not been observed in other long-term studies, but habituation responses to handling and human activities have been found for behaviour related to breeding in shorebirds 73 and spatial behaviour and alertness in birds and mammals [74][75][76][77][78][79] . Some behaviour might even be shaped by parental habituation 34 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Long-term capture and handling effects on body condition, reproduction and survival in a semi-aquatic mammal

Mortensen

Rosell

2020

Sci Rep

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In long-term individual-based field studies, several parameters need to be assessed repeatedly to fully understand the potential fitness effects on individuals. Often studies only evaluate capture stress that appears in the immediate weeks or breeding season and even long-term studies fail to evaluate the long-term effects of their capture procedures. We investigated effects of long-term repeated capture and handling of individuals in a large semi-aquatic rodent using more than 20 years of monitoring data from a beaver population in Norway. To investigate the effects, we corrected for ecological factors and analysed the importance of total capture and handling events, years of monitoring and deployment of telemetry devices on measures related to body condition, reproduction and survival of individual beavers. Body mass of dominant individuals decreased considerably with number of capture events (107 g per capture), but we found no statistically clear short or long-term effects of capture and handling on survival or other body condition indices. Annual litter size decreased with increasing number of captures among older individuals. Number of captures furthermore negatively affected reproduction in the beginning of the monitoring, but the effect decreased over the years, indicating habituation to repeated capture and handling. By assessing potential impacts on several fitness-related parameters at multiple times, we can secure the welfare of wild animal populations when planning and executing future conservation studies as well as ensure ecologically reliable research data.

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“…Temporally, bears become more nocturnal when hunting seasons start [102], where road density (a proxy of human disturbance) is higher [103,104], and after encountering people [105], a pattern that holds, without sign of habituation to human presence, after repeated experimental encounters [106]. Combining GPS and heart rate loggers showed that the highest bear stress levels occur when bears are near villages [107].…”

Section: Effects Of Human Activities On Large Carnivore Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators

et al. 2021

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The effects of human disturbance spread over virtually all ecosystems and ecological communities on Earth. In this review, we focus on the effects of human disturbance on terrestrial apex predators. We summarize their ecological role in nature and how they respond to different sources of human disturbance. Apex predators control their prey and smaller predators numerically and via behavioral changes to avoid predation risk, which in turn can affect lower trophic levels. Crucially, reducing population numbers and triggering behavioral responses are also the effects that human disturbance causes to apex predators, which may in turn influence their ecological role. Some populations continue to be at the brink of extinction, but others are partially recovering former ranges, via natural recolonization and through reintroductions. Carnivore recovery is both good news for conservation and a challenge for management, particularly when recovery occurs in human-dominated landscapes. Therefore, we conclude by discussing several management considerations that, adapted to local contexts, may favor the recovery of apex predator populations and their ecological functions in nature.

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Habituation, sensitization, or consistent behavioral responses? Brown bear responses after repeated approaches by humans on foot

Cited by 52 publications

References 42 publications

Fear of humans as apex predators has landscape‐scale impacts from mountain lions to mice

Fear of humans as apex predators has landscape‐scale impacts from mountain lions to mice

Long-term capture and handling effects on body condition, reproduction and survival in a semi-aquatic mammal

Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators

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