Ecotourism offers a non-consumptive form of economic activity globally. Human activity, however, might negatively affect the ecology of areas and their biota, likely varying with type and intensity of ecotourism. Wildlife, for example, might perceive ecotourists as predators, and adjust behaviour accordingly (i.e., human avoidance). Alternatively, wildlife might actually seek human activity if it protects them from greater risks (Human Shield Hypothesis). The Anthropause, a period of decreased human activity due to COVID-19, provided unparalleled opportunity to examine wildlife behaviour when perceived risks from humans were removed. In partnership with the Kitasoo Xai’xais First Nation (KX), we assessed if and how ecotourism, in the form of bear-viewing, might influence spatial and temporal activity of grizzly bears. We deployed remote cameras in the Khutze watershed in 2020 in the absence of human use. To provide increased inference when tourism resumed in 2021, KX implemented alternating spatial closure experiments within the watershed. Additionally, in 2021 we implemented a tourist group size experiment in a second watershed, Green River. In Khutze, we found that a closure of 25 days was required for bear detection rate to return to the 2020 (non-ecotourism) level. We did not observe an influence of the alternating within-watershed north-south closures on activity. The data also revealed complex relationships among bear detections, ecotourism activity, and salmon availability, varying by age and sex of bears. Specifically, we found a human shield effect for females with young when salmon levels were moderate to high, but this effect diminished in times of low salmon. An activity pattern analysis in Khutze did not show an effect of ecotourism. In Green, where inference was likely constrained by our short-term experiment, we found a positive influence of the number of days since people were present on detection rate. We additionally found temporal avoidance of within 100m of the viewing site on days when people were present. These patterns from both watersheds show the complex ways in which wildlife can respond to even seemingly benign human presence. Inference from this research has application to wildlife, land, and ecotour management by the KX, who are reasserting authority in governance. More broadly, this study contributes to literature on the dynamic landscape of fear induced by spatiotemporal variation in human activity. / Graduate / 2023-09-09

Fear of predation can have a major impact on the behaviour of prey species. Despite recent codifying of the concept of the ecology of fear, there has been relatively little focus on how these ideas apply to large carnivore species which, although not prey sensu stricto, may experience fear as a result of threats from humans. This thesis argues that large mammalian carnivores are subject to a Landscape of Fear similar to that described for prey species, and will respond behaviourally to fear of human-caused mortality. The idea of a "Landscape of Coexistence" is introduced to denote the perceived risk from humans and associated behavioural responses that can be overlain on spatio-temporally heterogeneous landscapes. Literature on the ecology of fear for large mammalian carnivores and, as there is a dearth of such literature, the current theory on the ecology of fear for other guilds is reviewed, and how this might inform large carnivore behaviour in a Landscape of Coexistence is explored. Behavioural effects of human-caused mortality risk are revealed for lions living in a human dominated landscape (Laikipia County, Kenya), specifically how lions adjust their movement patterns, habitat use and foraging tactics when in proximity to humans. It is argued that these behavioural adjustments represent a trade-off between maximising fitness enhancing activities and minimising the risk of human-caused mortality, thus need to be taken into consideration along with the lethal effects of humans when explaining the density, distribution and behaviour of lions throughout much of their remaining range. Although fear is generic, 'human-caused mortality risk' represents a distinct and very important sub-set of the ecology of fear for the carnivore guild. The existence of a Landscape of Coexistence has implications for understanding their foraging ecology, and ultimately their population dynamics and role in the ecosystem, and is therefore, important for the conservation of large carnivores throughout large parts of their remaining ranges.

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