During the pandemic, truly exceptional situations were witnessed in the country’s main cities. In Santiago, several residents spotted pumas wandering through the deserted streets as a result of confinement, prompting the deployment of the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) and the sheltering of pets inside their homes.
This phenomenon was the subject of one of the largest studies on wildlife behavior involving more than 220 researchers, 163 mammal species and 5,000 camera traps around the world.
The results led by the University of British Columbia revealed that wild animals react differently to humans depending on their habitat and what they eat, with the largest species being the most susceptible to changes in human activity.
national scene
Although most of the study focused on the northern hemisphere, two Chilean researchers stood out notably for their contributions from the center and south of the country.
“The information was collected through camera trap devices, which allowed the movements of the animals to be recorded. In the case of Chile, areas of the Maule Region, the Biobío Region and the Los Ríos Region were studied, during and after the quarantine,” says Darío Moreira, researcher at the Department of Agrarian Management at the University of Santiago de Chile, the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) and the Anthropocene Studies Laboratory, who participated in the global research, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
In each of these data and places studied, periods with very low human activity and periods with daily human activity were contrasted.
Eduardo Silva, academic at the Institute of Conservation, Biodiversity and Territory of the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Natural Resources of the Austral University of Chile, explained that these periods coincided with the quarantine. In the case of Chile, the quarantine was associated with less human activity. However, the same did not happen in other parts of the planet.
“In other places, during the restriction periods, increases in human activity were observed, particularly in the use of green areas,” Silva said.
Conclusions
But what did the study conclude? The first major conclusion that the researchers reached is that there are various responses of fauna to human activity.
“The result does not necessarily coincide with the initial impression that was had during COVID, when we thought that there was an increase in the presence of fauna in the city, or even a colonization or a resurgence of wildlife. What was observed were changes in some groups,” clarified Eduardo Silva.
For example, in the case of carnivores, it was observed that in urban areas with low human presence (as is the case of quarantine) diurnal activity increased, that is, the animals had a higher degree of diurnality.
“In the particular case of some places in Chile, specifically in Valdivia, when we analyze what happened with some species, we do not see an increase in activity, that is, we do not see evidence that the places have been colonized by new animals. What we can affirm is that there is a slight increase in diurnality, particularly in the case of the chilla fox,” said the UACh academic.
In the particular case of the chilla fox, in post-quarantine scenarios “there was an increase in nocturnal activity as human activity resumed,” explained the IEB researcher.
Looking towards coexistence
It is common to find various videos on the Internet of wild animals in the middle of cities: bears traveling between neighborhoods in the northern hemisphere; herds of elephants and birds in migration processes; and in Chile, foxes and pumas being sighted near populated and tourist areas.
Faced with the scenario during the pandemic, the study published by the University of British Columbia highlights the importance of establishing measures to minimize any harmful effects of human activity on wildlife.
With the size of the global human population, which exceeds 8 billion people, and the footprint that this pressure exerts on the Earth’s surface, the survival of wild animals could depend on the degree of adaptation of fauna to changes. landscape physics. However, the authors point out that it is possible to contribute to the conservation of wild species and better coexistence.
For Darío Moreira, managing human activity can be key to protecting the most vulnerable species and their respective refuges. In this way, coexistence between humans and animals can be promoted.
“If human activity increases and also that of species, there begins to be a conflict that we cannot ignore,” he reflects, “It is necessary to establish places in cities that allow for the creation of a refuge for fauna.”
Estudio de Nature Ecology and Evolution: