10.5061/DRYAD.J9KD51CDK
Mols, Bjorn
0000-0001-9258-1807
University of Groningen
Mols, Bjorn
University of Groningen
Lambers, Evert
University of Groningen
Cromsigt, Joris
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Kuijper, Dries
Mammal Research Institute
Smit, Christian
University of Groningen
Recreation and hunting differentially affect deer behaviour and sapling
performance.
Dryad
dataset
2021
human disturbance
hunting for fear
landscapes of fear
tree recruitment
ungulate browsing
FOS: Natural sciences
2021-12-15T00:00:00Z
2021-12-15T00:00:00Z
en
69158 bytes
3
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Humans are increasingly acknowledged as apex predators that shape
landscapes of fear to which herbivores adapt their behaviour. Here, we
investigate how humans modify deer space-use and their effects on
vegetation at two spatial scales; zones with different types of human use
(large-scale risk factor) and, nested within that, trails (fine-scale risk
factor). In zones with three contrasting types of human activities: (1) no
recreation, no hunting, (2) with recreation, no hunting, and (3) with
recreation and hunting, we linked deer space-use (dropping counts) to
browsing intensity, relative growth, and survival of planted saplings.
Plots were located at two distances to trails (20 vs. 100m) to test how
trails affect deer space-use and sapling performance. Additionally, plots
were distributed over forest and heathland as risk effects are
habitat-dependent. Deer space-use was highest in the zone without
recreation or hunting, resulting in higher browsing levels and lower
sapling growth and survival, but only in heathland. In contrast, deer
space-use and sapling performance did not differ between zones with
recreation only and zones with recreation and hunting. Deer dropping
counts were lower near trails used for recreation, but this was not
associated with browsing impact or sapling performance. Our results show
that recreational use modifies deer space-use which is associated with
browsing impact on woody vegetation, while seasonal hunting activities in
zones with recreation did not have additive year-round effects. Yet,
effects were only observed at the larger scale of recreation zones and not
near trails. Furthermore, deer space-use was only associated with sapling
performance in open heathland, where high visibility presumably increases
avoidance behaviour because it increases detectability and decreases
escape possibilities. This suggests that recreation creates behaviourally
mediated cascading effects that influence vegetation development, yet
these effects are context-dependent. We advocate incorporating
human-induced fear effects in conservation, management and research.