Assessing anthropogenic effects on golden-mantled ground squirrel and least chipmunk flight initiation distances

Abstract

Species who commonly occupy territories within human settlements are exposed to frequent human disturbance, which has been linked to significant shifts in wildlife behavior in past studies. As urbanization and rural development continue to increase, we can anticipate cohabitation between humans and wildlife to also increase, creating a growing need to understand the effects of repeated human disturbance on wildlife behavior across a variety of taxa. Flight initiation distance (FID) is a common metric used to quantify antipredator behavior and boldness in wildlife populations and is used to assess perceived risk of a pursuer from the perspective of a fleerer. We conducted FID trials on golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis; GMGS) and least chipmunks (Tamias minimus; CPMK) across 11 sites of varying levels of human disturbance to determine the effect of human disturbance on FIDs through a generalized linear mixed effects model. We found a statistically significant positive relationship between proportion of impervious surfaces within a buffer range of the animal and FID for CPMK, as well as a reliably positive effect of distance to road on FID for CPMK. GMGS had reliably positive effects of distance to road and distance to trails on FID. Starting distance was significant for CPMK and GMGS.

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