Abstract
The recovery of large carnivores in human-dominated landscapes comes with challenges. In general, large carnivores avoid humans and their activities, and human avoidance favors coexistence, but individual variation in large carnivore behavior may occur. The detection of individuals close to human settlements or roads can trigger fear in local communities and in turn demand management actions. Understanding the sources of individual variation in carnivore behavior towards human features is relevant and timely for ecology and conservation. We studied the movement behavior of 52 adult established wolves ((Canis lupus), 44 wolf pairs) with GPS-collars over two decades in Scandinavia in relation to settlements, buildings, and roads. We fit fine-scale movement data to individual step selection functions to depict the movement decisions of wolves while travelling, and then used weighted linear mixed models to identify factors associated with potential individual pair deviations from the general behavioral patterns. Wolves consistently avoided human settlements and main roads, with little individual variation. Indeed, after correcting for season, time of the day, and latitude, there was little variability in habitat selection among wolf pairs, demonstrating that all wolf pairs had similar movement pattern and generally avoided human features of the landscape. Wolf avoidance of human features was lower at higher latitudes particularly in winter, likely due to seasonal prey migration. Although occasional sightings of carnivores or their tracks near human features do occur, they do not necessarily require management intervention. Communication of scientific findings on carnivore behavior to the public should suffice in most cases.
Highlights
Several populations of large carnivores in Europe and North America are recovering into former ranges (Chapron et al, 2014, Bruskotter and Shelby, 2010), bringing along conservation challenges (Kuijper et al, 2019)
In order to investigate the causes of variation in individual selection, we modelled each set of selection coefficients of the covariates included in the step selection functions using weighted linear mixed regressions in a Bayesian framework
To test whether the deviation of individual behaviors from the general behavioral pattern can be explained by spatial, temporal, or intrinsic factors, we modelled the variation in the selection coefficients of the wolves
Summary
Several populations of large carnivores in Europe and North America are recovering into former ranges (Chapron et al, 2014, Bruskotter and Shelby, 2010), bringing along conservation challenges (Kuijper et al, 2019). Range expansions of large carnivore populations, together with an expansion of urbanized areas, result in a higher frequency of interactions between large predators and humans (Treves et al, 2002). Even when large carnivores coexist spatially with humans, they adjust activity patterns to reduce the risk of encounters Such is, for instance, the case for tigers (Panthera tigris) (Carter et al, 2012), bears (Ordiz et al, 2013), and wolves in Scandinavia (Wam et al, 2014) and elsewhere (e.g., Theuerkauf, 2009). For instance, the case for tigers (Panthera tigris) (Carter et al, 2012), bears (Ordiz et al, 2013), and wolves in Scandinavia (Wam et al, 2014) and elsewhere (e.g., Theuerkauf, 2009) These behavioral changes reveal that large carnivores can perceive risks from
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