Effects of tourist activities on ungulate behaviour in a mountain protected area

Effects of tourist activities on ungulate behaviour in a mountain protected area. Pelletier, F. Journal of Mountain Ecology, 8:15-19, 2006.

Website abstract bibtex

Many protected areas seek to both preserve biodiversity and promote recreational activities. These objectives, however, may conflict if human activities reduce animal use of protected habitat. To determine if traffic volume affected the area-use pattern of wild ungulates, I conducted ungulate surveys along a road in the Sheep River Provincial Park, Alberta, over two years. I counted groups of four ungulate species, and compared the number seen during weekdays (low traffic volume) and weekends (high volume). Fewer groups of all three cervid species were seen during weekends than during weekdays, while no difference was observed for bighorn sheep. Bighorn sheep, however, flew at the sight of or when chased by domestic dogs. High traffic volume decreased ungulate use of habitat areas within sight of the road. Anthropogenic disturbance therefore led to habitat loss in this protected area because during days with heavy traffic, ungulates avoided habitat close to the road. Moreover, harassment by domestic dogs artificially increases the predation risk perceived by ungulates, which

@article{
 title = {Effects of tourist activities on ungulate behaviour in a mountain protected area},
 type = {article},
 year = {2006},
 keywords = {15 19,8,disturbance,ecol,j,mt,protected areas,roads,ungulates behaviour},
 pages = {15-19},
 volume = {8},
 websites = {http://www.ucalgary.ca/emergmgmt/files/bgs/Pelletier_2006.pdf%5Cnhttp://webapps2.ucalgary.ca/~bgs/pubFiles/Pelletier_2006.pdf},
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 last_modified = {2020-02-04T21:30:47.058Z},
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 abstract = {Many protected areas seek to both preserve biodiversity and promote recreational activities. These objectives, however, may conflict if human activities reduce animal use of protected habitat. To determine if traffic volume affected the area-use pattern of wild ungulates, I conducted ungulate surveys along a road in the Sheep River Provincial Park, Alberta, over two years. I counted groups of four ungulate species, and compared the number seen during weekdays (low traffic volume) and weekends (high volume). Fewer groups of all three cervid species were seen during weekends than during weekdays, while no difference was observed for bighorn sheep. Bighorn sheep, however, flew at the sight of or when chased by domestic dogs. High traffic volume decreased ungulate use of habitat areas within sight of the road. Anthropogenic disturbance therefore led to habitat loss in this protected area because during days with heavy traffic, ungulates avoided habitat close to the road. Moreover, harassment by domestic dogs artificially increases the predation risk perceived by ungulates, which},
 bibtype = {article},
 author = {Pelletier, Fanie},
 journal = {Journal of Mountain Ecology}
}

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