Hunting and Outdoor Recreation Affect Large Herbivore Activity Patterns More Than Natural Predators in a Human-Dominated Landscape.

ABSTRACT: Across Europe, landscapes where large carnivores, large herbivores and human communities coexist are expanding, reflecting the widespread recovery of large mammal populations in recent decades. The influence of top-down effects of wolves on large herbivores has been extensively studied in areas with relatively little anthropogenic disturbance, but less is known about their effect in human-dominated landscapes. We systematically collected camera-trap data over five consecutive autumn hunting seasons in an area of the eastern Alps which is intensely frequented by tourists and trekkers, and partially open to ungulate hunting. We used a quasi-experimental design, with half of the sampling sites located within nonhunting areas and half outside. Applying generalised additive mixed models (GAMMs)

SUBMITTER: Boer-Cueva M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12906980 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature