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Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany

As many other wild living species, black grouse Tetrao tetrix has to cope with anthropogenic disturbances in many habitats. Impacts of tourism and outdoor recreation on grouse species Tetraoninae have been subject to several studies in mountainous habitats in Central Europe and the United Kingdom. T...

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Autores principales: Tost, Daniel, Strauß, Egbert, Jung, Klaus, Siebert, Ursula
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7473583/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32886720
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238660
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author Tost, Daniel
Strauß, Egbert
Jung, Klaus
Siebert, Ursula
author_facet Tost, Daniel
Strauß, Egbert
Jung, Klaus
Siebert, Ursula
author_sort Tost, Daniel
collection PubMed
description As many other wild living species, black grouse Tetrao tetrix has to cope with anthropogenic disturbances in many habitats. Impacts of tourism and outdoor recreation on grouse species Tetraoninae have been subject to several studies in mountainous habitats in Central Europe and the United Kingdom. The geographically isolated and critically endangered black grouse population of Lower Saxony (North Germany) has been consistently monitored but beyond that poorly studied. This also applies to the key habitats of the nature reserve Lüneburg Heath (Lüneburger Heide) which, in turn, serves as a recreational area as well. In this study, the impact of tourism activity on habitat use of black grouse was investigated using data of GPS-tracked individuals. Additionally, visitor numbers on public and (usually undisturbed) closed routes were monitored using infrared light barriers. The spatio-temporal distribution of locations and the recreational activity were evaluated by linear mixed-effects models. Tagged individuals avoided the vicinity of public routes and avoiding distances were directly related to intensity of human activity. There was no seasonal change of black grouse habitat use alongside public routes. However, towards closed routes, significantly higher distances appeared during peak phases of visitor numbers (August and September), implying temporary increased disturbance levels within a key refuge area. Diurnal adaptation of habitat use was strongly dependent on the route density within the home range. Individuals used the vicinity of public trails at night and dawn but evaded these habitats during peak human activity around noon and afternoon. Recreational disturbances appeared to significantly affect the effective habitat availability for black grouse in the nature reserve. Visual cover by vegetation, however, seemed to diminish negative effects emerging from hiking trails. This provides an effective protective measure which requires minimal effort for the local conservation management.
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spelling pubmed-74735832020-09-14 Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany Tost, Daniel Strauß, Egbert Jung, Klaus Siebert, Ursula PLoS One Research Article As many other wild living species, black grouse Tetrao tetrix has to cope with anthropogenic disturbances in many habitats. Impacts of tourism and outdoor recreation on grouse species Tetraoninae have been subject to several studies in mountainous habitats in Central Europe and the United Kingdom. The geographically isolated and critically endangered black grouse population of Lower Saxony (North Germany) has been consistently monitored but beyond that poorly studied. This also applies to the key habitats of the nature reserve Lüneburg Heath (Lüneburger Heide) which, in turn, serves as a recreational area as well. In this study, the impact of tourism activity on habitat use of black grouse was investigated using data of GPS-tracked individuals. Additionally, visitor numbers on public and (usually undisturbed) closed routes were monitored using infrared light barriers. The spatio-temporal distribution of locations and the recreational activity were evaluated by linear mixed-effects models. Tagged individuals avoided the vicinity of public routes and avoiding distances were directly related to intensity of human activity. There was no seasonal change of black grouse habitat use alongside public routes. However, towards closed routes, significantly higher distances appeared during peak phases of visitor numbers (August and September), implying temporary increased disturbance levels within a key refuge area. Diurnal adaptation of habitat use was strongly dependent on the route density within the home range. Individuals used the vicinity of public trails at night and dawn but evaded these habitats during peak human activity around noon and afternoon. Recreational disturbances appeared to significantly affect the effective habitat availability for black grouse in the nature reserve. Visual cover by vegetation, however, seemed to diminish negative effects emerging from hiking trails. This provides an effective protective measure which requires minimal effort for the local conservation management. Public Library of Science 2020-09-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7473583/ /pubmed/32886720 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238660 Text en © 2020 Tost et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Tost, Daniel
Strauß, Egbert
Jung, Klaus
Siebert, Ursula
Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany
title Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany
title_full Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany
title_fullStr Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany
title_full_unstemmed Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany
title_short Impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern Germany
title_sort impact of tourism on habitat use of black grouse (tetrao tetrix) in an isolated population in northern germany
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7473583/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32886720
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238660
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