Humans are perceived as predators by many species and may generate landscapes of fear, influencing spatiotemporal activity of wildlife. Additionally, wildlife might seek out human activity when faced with predation risks (human shield hypothesis). We used the anthropause, a decrease in human activity resulting from the COVID‐19 pandemic, to test ecology of fear and human shield hypotheses and quantify the effects of bear‐viewing ecotourism on grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) activity. We deployed camera traps in the Khutze watershed in Kitasoo Xai'xais Territory in the absence of humans in 2020 and with experimental treatments of variable human activity when ecotourism resumed in 2021. Daily bear detection rates decreased with more people present and increased with days since people were present. Human activity was also associated with more bear detections at forested sheltered sites and less at exposed sites, likely due to the influence of habitat on bear perception of safety. The number of people negatively influenced adult male detection rates, but we found no influence on female with young detections, providing no evidence that females responded behaviorally to a human shield effect from reduced male activity. We also observed apparent trade‐offs of risk avoidance and foraging. When salmon levels were moderate to high, detected bears were more likely to be females with young than adult males on days with more people present. Should managers want to minimize human impacts on bear activity and maintain baseline age–sex class composition at ecotourism sites, multiday closures and daily occupancy limits may be effective. More broadly, this work revealed that antipredator responses can vary with intensity of risk cues, habitat structure, and forage trade‐offs and manifest as altered age–sex class composition of individuals using human‐influenced areas, highlighting that wildlife avoid people across multiple spatiotemporal scales.

中文翻译：

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恐惧生态学改变了接受观熊生态旅游的灰熊的行为

人类被许多物种视为掠食者，可能会产生恐惧景观，影响野生动物的时空活动。此外，野生动物在面临捕食风险时可能会寻找人类活动（人盾假说）。我们利用人类更年期（COVID-19 大流行导致人类活动减少）来测试恐惧生态学和人体盾牌假设，并量化观熊生态旅游对灰熊的影响（熊） 活动。我们在 2020 年没有人类的情况下，在 Kitasoo Xai'xais 地区的 Khutze 流域部署了摄像机陷阱，并在 2021 年生态旅游恢复时对各种人类活动进行了实验性处理。每日熊的检测率随着人们出现的增加而下降，并随着人类离开的天数而增加。在场。人类活动还与在森林保护区发现更多的熊有关，而在暴露的地点发现更少的熊，这可能是由于栖息地对熊安全感知的影响。人数对成年男性的检测率产生负面影响，但我们发现对年轻检测率的女性没有影响，没有证据表明女性对男性活动减少所产生的人体盾牌效应有行为反应。我们还观察到风险规避和觅食之间存在明显的权衡。当鲑鱼水平处于中等到高水平时，在人较多的日子里，检测到的熊更有可能是带着幼崽的雌性熊，而不是成年雄性熊。如果管理者希望最大限度地减少人类对熊活动的影响并维持生态旅游景点年龄-性别构成的基线，多日关闭和每日入住限制可能会有效。更广泛地说，这项工作揭示了反捕食者的反应可能会随着风险提示的强度、栖息地结构和饲料权衡而变化，并表现为使用受人类影响的区域的个体的年龄-性别构成的改变，这强调了野生动物跨越多个时空避开人类秤。