Anthropogenic activity and structures have varying effects on the activity of carnivores in a protected area in Wisconsin, United States

Farmer, Morgan; Allen, Maximilian; Olson, Erik; Van Stappen, Julie; Van Deelen, Tomothy

While protected areas are often considered strongholds for wildlife populations, recent research in protected areas has highlighted that both human activity (i.e. presence) and footprint (i.e. structures) can influence wildlife. To determine how human activity and structures affect the spatiotemporal activity of wildlife on the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin, United States, we monitored the carnivore community for 5 years (2014–2018) using camera traps. We found that lighthouses had a negative impact on carnivore community richness, while historical sites had a positive impact. Responses of individual carnivore species to anthropogenic structures varied depending on structure type, with most of the canids and mustelids exhibiting negative associations with campgrounds. When examining the seasonal effects of human activity and footprint (i.e., when park visitation is relatively high or low), we found that carnivore richness was lower during the high human activity season, suggesting that seasonal variation in human activity influences carnivore activity. We also compared carnivore nocturnality along a gradient of anthropogenic activity, but our results indicate that the carnivore community did not become more nocturnal with increasing anthropogenic activity as expected. However, the carnivore community did display spatial avoidance of current anthropogenic structures, especially campgrounds. Our study indicates that human footprint in the form of structures and seasonal variation in human activity can influence wildlife activity within protected areas. Based on this study, species-specific research that includes multiple representations of potential human effects (i.e., including categories of human footprint and activity) will allow for a more nuanced and cohesive understanding of the impacts of humans on the spatial and temporal distributions of wildlife species.