Astrid Olejarz
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 lockdown limited human activity in certain areas of life, particularly travel and gathering indoors. Consequently, many people spent more time outdoors, penetrating natural areas and potentially putting pressure on wildlife. Increased interest in outdoor recreational activities during the lockdown period of 2020 was observed in the suburban forest near Prague (Czech Republic), where human visitation to the same period of 2019 increased by fivefold. Could this increased human presence alter the spatial behaviour of wildlife? In this study, we present the wild boar's space use and movement patterns during the first Covid-19 lockdown in the Czech Republic and compare them to the same period in 2019 with no Covid-19 restrictions. In total, we equipped 40 wild boars with GPS and biologger devices in the suburban forest "Kostelec nad Černými Lesy" in the Czech Republic. We calculated daily home ranges and step length, turning angle, and net square displacement. Human activity was measured daily using an automatic counter of humans entering the forest by a road. We hypothesised that the increased presence of humans in the forest alters daily movements and daily range of wild boars. Our preliminary analyses from the first lockdown period in spring 2020 show that increased human presence resulted in allocation of movement activity toward nighttime by increasing the distance travelled at night. We provide important insights into how increased human activity due to COVID-19 related restriction affect wild boar's spatial movement and space use.
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