Victoria Harbo

Topic

Human Recreation in Protected Areas Impacts Spatial Dynamics and Risk-Resource Trade-Offs Among a Wildlife Community

Department of Anthropology

Date & location

• Friday, September 13, 2024

• 12:30 P.M.

• David Turpin Building, Room B215

• and Virtual Defence

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Christopher Bone, Department of Geography, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. Jason Fisher, School of Environmental Studies, UVic (Non-unit Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Ammie Kalan, Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Heath Emerson, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, UVic

Abstract

Large mammals play critical roles in maintaining ecosystem balance, but their need for expansive, undisturbed habitat makes them particularly vulnerable to human activities. Protected areas are designed to conserve biodiversity by providing refuges for wildlife. However, within these areas, large mammals remain at risk from disturbances, due to the growing trend of non-consumptive outdoor recreation. Understanding the effects of human presence on mammal communities and large carnivores like cougars (Puma concolor) is essential for informing effective land and wildlife management. This thesis addresses this need by examining how human presence affects cougars’ risk-resource trade-offs, and then broadening the scope to assess human impacts on a community of large mammals. Data were collected from an array of 48 camera traps across the public-access Sooke Hills Wilderness Area Park (SHWA) and the restricted-access Greater Victoria Water Supply Area (GVWSA) on Southern Vancouver Island. In Chapter 2, cougar occurrence was evaluated through competing hypotheses related to habitat, prey, and anthropogenic risk. These results were used to predict cougar occurrence across a network of roads and trails within the study area. Cougar occurrence was best explained by habitat and risk at a 750-meter buffer, where cougars avoided human presence but were more willing to tolerate this risk when their preferred habitat was available in the same area. In Chapter 3, I assessed how a community of large mammals, including Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus), Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti), cougar (Puma concolor), black bear (Ursus americanus), and grey wolf (Canis lupus) responded to landscape heterogeneity, heterospecifics’ detection frequency, and land-use restrictions. Differences in community composition between the SHWA and GVWSA revealed that all wildlife species avoided public-access sites, with a clear difference in community composition due to access restrictions. Carnivore species overlapped spatially, suggesting reduced spatial partitioning due to human activity. This thesis shows that site-level human activity can alter risk-resource trade-offs for large carnivores that scales upwards to shift species distributions. Given the vulnerability of large mammals to disturbance, it is crucial to consider the impacts of non consumptive activities on both apex predators and entire wildlife communities.