Effects of human activity on the habitat utilization of Himalayan marmot
(Marmota himalayana) in Zoige wetland
Abstract
Human activity is increasingly and persistently disturbing nature and
wild animals. Affected wildlife adopts multiple strategies to deal with
different human influences. To explore the effect of human activity on
habitat utilization of the Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana),
habitat utilization patterns of three neighboring marmot populations in
habitats affected differently by human activities were recorded and
compared. We found that: (1) Distance between reproductive burrows
becomes shorter under the influence of human activity, and further, the
more disturbance a population suffers, the more burrows were dug as
temporary shelter to reduce the distance to those shelters when
threatened. More burrows that are closer in the disturbed habitats
improve ability to escape from threats. (2) Burrow site selection is
determined by the availability of mounds in the habitat. Breeding pairs
selectively build burrows on mounds to reproduce, potentially to improve
surveillance and the drainage of their burrows. Human activities
generally drive breeding pairs away from the road to build their
reproductive burrows, likely to reduce disturbance from vehicles.
However, even heavy human activity exerts no pressure on the distance of
reproductive burrows from the road or the mound volume of the high
disturbance population, potentially because mounds are the best
burrowing site in the habitat. Marmots deal with nonlethal human
disturbance by digging more burrows in the habitat to flee more
effectively and building reproductive burrows on mounds to gain better
vigilance and drainage efficiency.