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. 2023 Jun 9;380(6649):1059-1064.
doi: 10.1126/science.abo6499. Epub 2023 Jun 8.

Behavioral responses of terrestrial mammals to COVID-19 lockdowns

Marlee A Tucker  1 Aafke M Schipper  1 Tempe S F Adams  2 Nina Attias  3   4 Tal Avgar  5 Natarsha L Babic  6 Kristin J Barker  7 Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau  8 Dominik M Behr  9   10 Jerrold L Belant  11 Dean E Beyer Jr  11 Niels Blaum  12 J David Blount  13 Dirk Bockmühl  14 Ricardo Luiz Pires Boulhosa  15 Michael B Brown  16   17 Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar  18 Francesca Cagnacci  19 Justin M Calabrese  20   21 Rok Černe  22 Simon Chamaillé-Jammes  23   24 Aung Nyein Chan  17   25 Michael J Chase  2 Yannick Chaval  26   27 Yvette Chenaux-Ibrahim  28 Seth G Cherry  29 Duško Ćirović  30 Emrah Çoban  31 Eric K Cole  32 Laura Conlee  33 Alyson Courtemanch  34 Gabriele Cozzi  9   10 Sarah C Davidson  35   36   37 Darren DeBloois  38 Nandintsetseg Dejid  39 Vickie DeNicola  40 Arnaud L J Desbiez  3   41   42 Iain Douglas-Hamilton  43   44 David Drake  45 Michael Egan  8   27 Jasper A J Eikelboom  46 William F Fagan  21 Morgan J Farmer  47 Julian Fennessy  16 Shannon P Finnegan  48 Christen H Fleming  21   49 Bonnie Fournier  50 Nicholas L Fowler  48   51 Mariela G Gantchoff  52   53 Alexandre Garnier  26   54 Benedikt Gehr  55 Chris Geremia  56 Jacob R Goheen  57 Morgan L Hauptfleisch  58 Mark Hebblewhite  59 Morten Heim  60 Anne G Hertel  61 Marco Heurich  62   63   64 A J Mark Hewison  26   27 James Hodson  65 Nicholas Hoffman  66 J Grant C Hopcraft  67 Djuro Huber  68 Edmund J Isaac  28 Karolina Janik  69 Miloš Ježek  70 Örjan Johansson  71   72 Neil R Jordan  10   73   74 Petra Kaczensky  75   76 Douglas N Kamaru  57   77 Matthew J Kauffman  78 Todd M Kautz  48 Roland Kays  79   80 Allicia P Kelly  81 Jonas Kindberg  82   83 Miha Krofel  84   85 Josip Kusak  68 Clayton T Lamb  86 Tayler N LaSharr  87 Peter Leimgruber  17 Horst Leitner  88 Michael Lierz  89 John D C Linnell  60   90 Purevjav Lkhagvaja  91 Ryan A Long  92 José Vicente López-Bao  93 Matthias-Claudio Loretto  35   94   95 Pascal Marchand  96 Hans Martin  59 Lindsay A Martinez  97 Roy T McBride Jr  98 Ashley A D McLaren  99   100 Erling Meisingset  101 Joerg Melzheimer  14 Evelyn H Merrill  102 Arthur D Middleton  7 Kevin L Monteith  87 Seth A Moore  28 Bram Van Moorter  60 Nicolas Morellet  26   27 Thomas Morrison  67 Rebekka Müller  14 Atle Mysterud  103 Michael J Noonan  104 David O'Connor  105   106   107 Daniel Olson  38 Kirk A Olson  108 Anna C Ortega  97   109 Federico Ossi  19 Manuela Panzacchi  60 Robert Patchett  110 Brent R Patterson  111   112 Rogerio Cunha de Paula  113 John Payne  114 Wibke Peters  115 Tyler R Petroelje  48 Benjamin J Pitcher  74   116 Boštjan Pokorny  117   118   119 Kim Poole  120 Hubert Potočnik  121 Marie-Pier Poulin  122 Robert M Pringle  123 Herbert H T Prins  124 Nathan Ranc  19   26   125 Slaven Reljić  68   126 Benjamin Robb  97 Ralf Röder  14 Christer M Rolandsen  60 Christian Rutz  110 Albert R Salemgareyev  127 Gustaf Samelius  72   128 Heather Sayine-Crawford  65 Sarah Schooler  48 Çağan H Şekercioğlu  13   31   129 Nuria Selva  130   131 Paola Semenzato  19   132 Agnieszka Sergiel  130 Koustubh Sharma  133   134   135   136 Avery L Shawler  7 Johannes Signer  137 Václav Silovský  70 João Paulo Silva  138   139 Richard Simon  140 Rachel A Smiley  87 Douglas W Smith  56 Erling J Solberg  60 Diego Ellis-Soto  141   142   143 Orr Spiegel  144 Jared Stabach  17 Jenna Stacy-Dawes  145 Daniel R Stahler  56 John Stephenson  146 Cheyenne Stewart  147 Olav Strand  60 Peter Sunde  148 Nathan J Svoboda  149 Jonathan Swart  150 Jeffrey J Thompson  151   152 Katrina L Toal  140 Kenneth Uiseb  153 Meredith C VanAcker  17   154 Marianela Velilla  151   152   155 Tana L Verzuh  87 Bettina Wachter  14 Brittany L Wagler  87 Jesse Whittington  156 Martin Wikelski  35   157 Christopher C Wilmers  158 George Wittemyer  43   159 Julie K Young  160   161 Filip Zięba  162 Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica  162 Mark A J Huijbregts  1 Thomas Mueller  17   39   163
Affiliations

Behavioral responses of terrestrial mammals to COVID-19 lockdowns

Marlee A Tucker et al. Science. .

Abstract

COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020 reduced human mobility, providing an opportunity to disentangle its effects on animals from those of landscape modifications. Using GPS data, we compared movements and road avoidance of 2300 terrestrial mammals (43 species) during the lockdowns to the same period in 2019. Individual responses were variable with no change in average movements or road avoidance behavior, likely due to variable lockdown conditions. However, under strict lockdowns 10-day 95th percentile displacements increased by 73%, suggesting increased landscape permeability. Animals' 1-hour 95th percentile displacements declined by 12% and animals were 36% closer to roads in areas of high human footprint, indicating reduced avoidance during lockdowns. Overall, lockdowns rapidly altered some spatial behaviors, highlighting variable but substantial impacts of human mobility on wildlife worldwide.

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