Welche Auswirkungen haben Erholungs-aktivitäten auf Verhalten, Physiologie und Demografie von Wildtieren? Ergebnisse einer vergleichenden Literaturstudie

Outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling are growing in popularity, which is also reflected by increasing visitor numbers in protected areas. However, this literature review documents adverse effects of recreational use on wildlife behaviour, physiology, and demography. Large carni-vores, mesopredators, and ungulates react, for instance, with increased vigilance and flight behaviour to recreational activities. Outdoor recreation can also have negative effects on resting times, foraging behaviour, stress levels, reproductive success, and can lead to an alteration of wild-life’s spatio-temporal behaviour and activity. Due to interactions of different environmental variables and individual factors, the different be-havioural reactions can be displayed to varying degrees. In order to mitigate the effects of recreational activities on wildlife, management plans should promote the spatial and temporal separation of recrea-tionists and wildlife through regulations, e.g. restricting recreational use to trails and restricting access to certain areas spatially and/or tem-porally, and through the management of visitor movements or even the reduction of already existing infrastructure. Raising visitor awareness regarding the effects of their activities could also help to promote com-pliance and thereby reduce the adverse impacts of recreational use on wildlife.