The effect of human activity on the vigilance rates of <i>Spermophilis lateralis</i> and <i>Tamias minimus</i>

Abstract

With human population on the rise, human presence in wildlife areas will rise along side it. The study of how human activity is affecting wild animals in any and all aspects is of vast importance. This growing overlap is due to effect both sides of the issue, the humans and the animals. My study focuses on how human activity affects vigilance rates in golden-mantled ground squirrels and least chipmunks. I conducted observations in six different locations that were grouped in to 3 categories based on predicted human activity levels; high, medium and low. Here I observed the rate of vigilance by recording what individual squirrels and chipmunks were doing every 10 seconds. My study showed that human activity does have an effect on the vigilance rates of squirrels and chipmunks. As the level of human activity increases the rate of vigilance in the squirrels and chipmunks decrease and foraging rates increase. If increased human activity also decreases the predator densities in the area then the fitness of the squirrel populations in the area will increase. This information gathered on such common species as the Golden mantled ground squirrel and the least chipmunk could be used to make predictions on how human activity will affect the vigilance and foraging rates of more illusive nonsocial species of mammals.

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