Waiting on a mule deer crossing…
Abstract The human‐built environment influences the behavior and survival of many species, but most of these studies have been conducted in urban areas. Yet, anthropogenic development may impact species differently across scales, including at the rural level. We examined whether the built environment in a rural area obstructed visibility and influenced the antipredator behaviors of yellow‐bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventer ). We collected observational and experimental data around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, USA, to analyze differences in maximum running speed, antipredator vigilance, propensity to alarm call, and flight initiation distance at both undeveloped and low human density developed sites. We calculated marmot viewscapes using high‐resolution light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scans of marmot colonies and conducted visibility analyses to understand how overall visibility influences antipredator behaviors. We used mixed models to analyze the relationship between antipredator behaviors, development, and visibility. Development and visibility interacted to affect marmot vigilance: Animals in developed sites with highly variable visibility allocated more time to vigilance than animals in undeveloped, highly variable visibility sites, suggesting that despite the benefits of the human shield effect, living in close proximity to humans may increase risk perceptions more than living in undeveloped areas that had a similar level of visibility. We found no association between different intensities of development and visibility with maximum running speed, alarm calling propensity, or flight initiation distance. However, we found that marmots living in areas with highly variable visibility were less likely to emit alarm calls. We conclude that visibility analyses may be effective at explaining variation in some, but not all, antipredator behaviors. Our study provides a comprehensive and mechanistic examination of the ways in which human disturbance may affect behaviors with documented fitness consequences. We encourage continued consideration and study of human disturbance's impacts on wildlife behavior at the rural scale.
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