Human Wild Interaction Model for Assessing Anthropogenic Influence on Wildlife Behavioural Patterns

Abstract

Anthropogenic presence and activities on land have become one of the most widespread factors causing behavioural changes in wild animals; however, the mechanisms of how human cues affect the behaviour of animals with regard to movement, vigilance, activity scheduling, and social organization are often considered separately, rather than as a cohesive behaviour system. This paper presents the Human-Wild Interaction Model (HWIM), a theoretical and practical model based on the principles of behavioural ecology, which describes wildlife reactions to human presence through four interrelated behavioural domains: perception, decision-making, behaviour, and physiology. Building upon existing results from vigilance theory, landscape of fear, and habituation-sensitization principles, the model represents anthropogenic effects as a gradient stimulus which is processed in an identical manner as predator-induced effects by the cognitive and hormonal systems of animals adapted for predator detection and defence. The model is meant as a diagnostic and comparative instrument for animal scientists, wildlife biologists, and conservationists who wish to evaluate and counteract the effects of anthropogenic activities on animals. Wildlife management, park design, and potential experimental validation of the model are outlined.