Implications for conservation
As daytime “super predators”, humans control 75% of Earth’s land surface and are driving in rise in nocturnal activity in medium- and large-bodied mammals (Clinchy et al., 2016). A recent meta-analysis of studies of 62 mammalian species on six continents (Gaynor et al., 2018), exposed a robust influence of human existence on the temporal activity of wildlife, with an average 36% increase in nocturnal activity in reaction to human stimuli. Specifically, nocturnal activity increased in response to an extensive range of human effects, lethal and nonlethal, including hunting, farming, and hiking; this proposes that wild animals recognize humans as dangers whether or not they pose a lethal risk (Gaynor et al., 2018). Free-roaming dogs also cause both lethal and non-lethal effects (Zaman et al., 2019). Even agricultural farming activities may cause mammals to shift to greater nocturnal behavior and reduced diurnal activity (Shamoon et al., 2018), and depredation on domestic livestock, which commonly occur at night, can bring about negative perceptions and conservation issues (Mishra, 1997). While the present study has achieved its goals to better understand lunar effects on animal behavior (Beale and Monaghan, 2004).
Using a variety of computational tools to analyze our vigorous dataset, this study has achieved two principal results which progress our understanding of the nocturnal and diurnal behavior of wild mammals in relation to moon phase, including predator-prey interactions and effects of habitat factors. In particular, the study has revealed that wild animal patterns of activity across the study session, display temporal flexibility in response to lunar illumination (as altered by moon phase, moonrise/set, cloud cover, night vision acuity (due to the tapetum lucidum, but not measured here), predation risk (as affected by the landscape factors plus the temporal overlap of a single predator), food availability, and potential competitive interference. Finally, recognizing that the North China leopard is a critically endangered species, to aid the conservation and management of this predator and its prey, we highly recommend further, deeper research on these focal species with a more integrated approach to understanding spatio-temporal patterns in response to natural and anthropogenic factors, aided by a live animal capture, collaring and tracking protocol in combination with scientific evaluations of the top-down and bottom-up effects of human activities and land use, including roads, villages and livestock farming . The results obtained from doing this research would likely help to scientifically – and optimally – manage the landscape for human-wildlife coexistence, restore wild animal communities and natural habitat, and increase landscape permeability and connectivity, enabling the flow of genetic material and long-term population sustainability.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 31872241), Biodiversity Survey, Monitoring and Assessment Project of Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China (2019HB2096001006). We thank Dr. M. S. Farhadinia for initial language editing as well as constructive and other colleagues in our lab for data collection in the field and MZ also thank to Chines Government Scholarship program for provided financial supports.