Behavioral responses of terrestrial mammals to COVID-19 lockdowns

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.

Editor’s summary Policies to reduce human movement during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic produced a kind of natural experiment to observe how human activities affect animal behavior. Using GPS tracking data from 2300 individual mammals of 43 species, Tucker et al . documented changes in mammal movement patterns during the spring of 2020 compared with the previous year (see the Perspective by St. Clair and Raymond). In locations with strict lockdown policies, animals traveled longer distances during the lockdown period. In highly populated areas, mammals moved less frequently and were closer to roads than they were before the pandemic. These results demonstrate how human activities constrain animal movement and what happens when those activities cease. —Bianca Lopez

GPS tracking of mammals over five continents shows how animal movements changed during COVID-19 lockdowns.