To fully understand animal behavior and conservation, scientists are finding they need to study humans’ daily movements and activities. A paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution brings together a multidisciplinary group of experts to examine how tracking human movements through landscapes over time can provide insights into wildlife behavior and conservation.
This collaborative project began when biologists Diego Ellis-Soto and Ruth Oliver sought to analyze how COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions affected animal populations and ecosystems. However, they lacked data on the changes to human movement, so they assembled a diverse team of scientists covering fields like conservation biology, geography, social science, spatial analytics, computer science and more to explore this intersection further.
“It was fascinating to see the very different ways various disciplines approach the study of human mobility versus animal movement,” said Ellis-Soto, the paper’s lead author. “We feel this paper can help bridge gaps between areas like conservation science, social sciences and big data analytics to uncover new discoveries.”
In this paper, Ellis-Soto said the research team aimed to provide an easy-to-understand primer explaining the various methodologies and technologies for tracking human movement using technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, lidar and GPS. With the proliferation of smartphones and location-enabled devices, the authors say that understanding the ebbs and flows of human movement and activities across both wild and urban landscapes at scale is increasingly possible. The paper specifically explores the potential of collecting and integrating data from sources like cellphones, marine transportation trackers, and satellite imagery that captures nighttime lighting into this dynamic footprint.
The authors say that going beyond static geographical data to track people moving through landscapes and waterways over time, across days and seasons, can uncover hidden influences on animals. Adding these layers of dynamic human encroachment, such as traffic, onto habitats can paint a much fuller picture of how development continues to threaten species.
For instance, surges in recreation and tourism on weekends and holidays have been shown to negatively affect breeding and feeding patterns for sensitive animal populations in certain conservation areas. On the other hand, in locations with strict COVID-19 lockdown policies and restricted human travel, land mammals traveled longer distances (73% further on average).
