Impact of human activity on daily movement patterns of wolves (Canis lupus) in the Białowieża Forest, Poland

摘要: It is important for the management of recolonizing wolves (Canis lupus) in Europe to understand the wolves’ reactions to human activity. The aim of this study was to find out whether human activity affects the daily movement patterns of wolves. During 3 winters (1996-1999), we radiotracked 6 female wolves and monitored the pattern of human activity in the Białowieża National Park and the commercial part of the Białowieża Forest, eastern Poland. The 24-hour movement patterns of wolves living in the commercial part of the Białowieża Forest with high human activity were negatively correlated with the activity pattern of humans. The movement patterns of wolves from the national park—where human activity was low—were not correlated with the human activity. However, there was no difference in movements between wolves from the national park and those from the commercial forest during the time of maximum human presence from 0800 hours to 1500 hours. We concluded that human activity affected the wolves’ movement pattern, but that the influence was not strong enough to reduce the animals’ daytime movements.