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Responses during the lockdown based on our empirical data (Appendix 5, Table A5) where positive and negative effects represent the observed direction of change for the different response categories. 71 studies which attributed the observed effect to the lockdown with high confidence are included (i.e., a qualitative confidence score of 3 or greater out of a maximum of 5). Frequency histograms (panels a-d) show bars representing data density and a curve representing a smoothed distribution of effect sizes and direction. The dotted line is zero, and the solid colored line is the median. Only responses that were attributed to the lockdown with high confidence are included. a) Human activities and mobility (blue) includes measured responses in human activities and mobility, such as related to commuting and recreational activities (categories are described in Appendix 1, Table A1). b) Biodiversity threats (orange) include categories that harm wildlife and natural systems, such as hunting, fishing, mining, vehicle strikes, wildlife trade, environmental pollution, and deforestation. c) Wildlife responses (green) incorporate observations of animals and plants related to performance (e.g., reproduction, health, foraging) and habitat use (abundance and distribution) and community change (species richness). d) Social systems (purple) include environmental monitoring, restoration, conservation, and enforcement. The chord diagrams highlighted the observed positive and negative effects which were attributed to different lockdown-related drivers as identified by each study (black), and linked to what was measured by each study where responses grouped into the four categories: human activities and mobility, biodiversity threats, wildlife responses, and social systems and structures. One chord represents one measured response.
Source publication
The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundr...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... positive, likely reflecting reporting biases (Fig. 4). Reports include changes in behavior, reproductive success, health, and reductions in mortality, apparently in response to altered levels of human activity (Fig. 4) Our quantitative assessments suggest a mixed role of human confinement in positively and negatively influencing wildlife (Fig. 5). Some species changed their behavior (e. Table A4, StudyID 28), while other species showed very little changes (Fig. 5 showing distribution of wildlife responses as effect sizes which center on ...
Context 2
... health, and reductions in mortality, apparently in response to altered levels of human activity (Fig. 4) Our quantitative assessments suggest a mixed role of human confinement in positively and negatively influencing wildlife (Fig. 5). Some species changed their behavior (e. Table A4, StudyID 28), while other species showed very little changes (Fig. 5 showing distribution of wildlife responses as effect sizes which center on ...
Context 3
... as discussed above, responses were highly variable. For example, marine traffic increased slightly in some regions (Appendix 4 and 5, Fig. A4 and A5) including shifts of fishing fleets to near-shore coastlines. In some regions, fishing activities intensified rather than declined (e.g., some recreational fisheries and commercial fisheries) (Fig. 5). Other impacts escalated, including massive increases in plastic waste due to discarded personal protective equipment to prevent COVID-19 transmission, and abnormally large crowds of visitors to parks for recreation in countries where outdoor activities were permitted (e.g., a 47% visitation increase in the Swiss National Park, ...
Context 4
... -results that are inconsistent with the prevailing view of humans as primarily harming biodiversity. Indeed, while the qualitative observations presented here provide evidence of interpretation bias, viewing unusual behaviours in wildlife as positive (Fig. 4), our quantitative assessments were balanced between negative and positive responses (Fig. 5). Even if our dataset does not represent a random sampling design, the reports collated are a comprehensive inventory of information across the globe. Emerging from this initial dataset is support for both negative and positive responses of wildlife to human activity and the systems in place to monitor and protect nature. Thus, the ...
Citations
... Apparent from early on in the pandemic, there were multiple pathways via which the influence of COVID-19 has impacted societies, humans and wildlife, thereby highlighting complex relationships and the need for a holistic approach to their investigation [1]. Patterns of human-nature interactions, as well as human-wildlife interactions, were significantly affected by the global lockdown implemented to mitigate health risks [2]. Already at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown in March and April 2020, wildlife scientists took the opportunity to investigate wildlife responses [3], culminating in a Special Issue of the Conservation Biology journal in 2021, which covered a very wide range of countries and themes, and which provided a good starting point for further analyses [2]. ...
... Patterns of human-nature interactions, as well as human-wildlife interactions, were significantly affected by the global lockdown implemented to mitigate health risks [2]. Already at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown in March and April 2020, wildlife scientists took the opportunity to investigate wildlife responses [3], culminating in a Special Issue of the Conservation Biology journal in 2021, which covered a very wide range of countries and themes, and which provided a good starting point for further analyses [2]. ...
... In Poland, there was an over 50% decrease in hedgehog roadkills during the lockdown period [22], while Estonia, Spain, Israel and Czechia all experienced a more than 40% decrease in wildlife-vehicle collisions during the first weeks of lockdown [17]. South Korea saw a 19% reduction [2]. ...
The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on human and vehicular mobility on the number of roadkills of wild mammals, and roe deer in particular, was assessed in Lithuania. We statistically analyzed the distribution of all mammals and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) as the most abundant species annually from 2002 to 2022 and monthly from 2020 to 2021, including during the two restriction periods. Notably, there was a marked decrease in roadkill incidents on main, national and regional roads, particularly in April–May 2020 (the beginning of lockdown period I) and November–December 2020 (the beginning of lockdown period II), 5.1–20.8% and 33.6–54.4%, respectively. During these months, collisions with mammals on the A14 main road were reduced by 75–90%. However, there was a significant increase in the number of roadkills in urban areas, resulting in the total number of mammal–vehicle and roe deer–vehicle collisions in 2020 and 2021 being higher than expected based on long-term trends. However, after restrictions were eased, collision numbers with wildlife on the main, national and regional roads increased again and became higher than expected.
... While devastating for human communities, the absence of humans from the landscape provided a unique opportunity to study how animals respond to human activity, from the level of individual behaviour to population dynamics to community composition. Likely because of the direct and indirect effects of human activity, such as vehicular traffic, collisions, light pollution and noise pollution, some wildlife-specifically urban wildlife-adjusted their behaviours and patterns across the globe [1][2][3][4][5][6]. For example, during the initial pandemic lockdowns, urban white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) rapidly responded to the reduction in traffic noise by notably changing their songs to more high-performing songs that are otherwise interrupted by urban noise [2]. ...
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many people around the world stayed home, drastically altering human activity in cities. This exceptional moment provided researchers the opportunity to test how urban animals respond to human disturbance, in some cases testing fundamental questions on the mechanistic impact of urban behaviours on animal behaviour. However, at the end of this 'anthropause', human activity returned to cities. How might each of these strong shifts affect wildlife in the short and long term? We focused on fear response, a trait essential to tolerating urban life. We measured flight initiation distance-at both individual and population levels-for an urban bird before, during and after the anthropause to examine if birds experienced longer-term changes after a year and a half of lowered human presence. Dark-eyed juncos did not change fear levels during the anthropause, but they became drastically less fearful afterwards. These surprising and counterintuitive findings, made possible by following the behaviour of individuals over time, has led to a novel understanding that fear response can be driven by plasticity, yet not habituation-like processes. The pandemic-caused changes in human activity have shown that there is great complexity in how humans modify a behavioural trait fundamental to urban tolerance in animals.
... 7875) [30,35]. α-diversity, Hill numbers, and β-diversity components (turnover and nestedness) were estimated using the function "beta.div.comp" of the package "adespatial" [44,45], and GAM were performed using the "mgcv" package in R [46]. ...
... With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered a decrease in many human activities worldwide, the effect of this event on biodiversity began to be studied [45][46][47]. Our study is the first analysis of changes in fish assemblages in a tropical estuarine system before and during this event in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. ...
Differences in fish assemblages’ composition and their relationship with the environmental variables were analyzed in the Urías estuarine system, Mexican North Pacific. Environmental variables and fish catches were recorded bimonthly between June 2018 and November 2021, including a period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multivariate analyses were performed in the studied area to define zones based on their environmental, biotic, and abiotic characteristics and the effect of these on the fish assemblages. Two zones were identified, an estuarine with mangrove forest and a surf zone in the coastal area outside the estuarine system. Fish composition, biomass, and diversity (α and β) were evaluated among the factors of the period (before–during COVID-19), climatic seasons, and zones. A total of 5947 fish individuals of 41 species were collected using beach seines as fishing gear. The structure of the fish assemblages was different between zones and periods. Abiotic (temperature, salinity, and total matter suspended), biotic (mangrove area), and temporal (season and period before–during COVID-19) variables had an effect on fish biomass and α diversity, while the results of the β diversity only indicate changes in the nestedness component before–during the lockdown. These results indicate a change in fish assemblages’ structure and composition between periods, which might be a consequence of the limitation of human activities derived from the pandemic, climatic changes, or a combination of both effects. Our results show that fish assemblages in the estuarine systems of the Tropical Eastern Pacific are unique, and there is a need to establish local management strategies for these ecosystems.
... Having this whole paper system and coming into the office is quite detrimental to the environment because we're based in [region], then you're spending over an hour each day just traveling and think of the impact it has on the environment. -SM4 This is consistent with other findings such as research conducted by Bates et al. (2021). NASA satellites surveyed the fifteen largest metropolitan areas in the United States and found that the extraordinary drop-in human activity during the pandemic significantly reduced air pollution. ...
Purpose
COVID-19 has immensely disrupted business dynamism, providing catalyst innovation opportunities and transposing society's perception of disruptive technology (DT). This research increases the understanding of the impact of the pandemic in influencing the way organizations perceive DT and whether any mitigating factors were considered when deciding to adopt new technology during the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted in this research, consisting of 14 semi-structured interviews with eight senior managers and six employees, representing both the private and public sectors in New Zealand. All participants had in-depth knowledge of organizational DT adoption during the pandemic. Two separate sets of semi-structured interviews were used to enable comparison between senior managers' and employees' experiences of organizational adoption of DT post-emergence of COVID-19. Due to the nature of this research being conducted on organizational adoption of DT during the pandemic, time constraints and sample size were two of the key limitations of this research. Specifically, potential participants widely cited unavailability due to additional pressure from COVID-19. Given the limited research in this area, this study is explorative by nature and adds significant insights to the literature.
Findings
The findings suggest that COVID-19 has contributed towards an increased acceptance of, reliance on and adoption of DT across both organizational and social landscapes. The authors found that one of the reasons COVID-19 expedites the adoption of DT correlates with the notion of technology dependency, with organizations citing DT as a viable part of a business continuity plan (BCP) to counter the unpredictability of ongoing disruptive events associated with COVID-19 or any similar disruption which may be on the horizon. These findings are highly relevant as they suggest that the labor market in New Zealand is flexible so organizations and employees can adapt to DT and COVID-19.
Originality/value
This research adds much-needed insight into the emerging field of research that examines COVID-19's impact on the adoption of DT from both management and employee perspectives.
... En la actualidad múltiples estudios han centrado su atención en las zonas costeras (Consejo de Estado, 2000;González Díaz, 2015;Milanés Batista & Pérez Montero, 2017;Milanés, Rodríguez, & Pérez, 2009;Montero González & Pérez Montero, 2014;Velázquez Labrada et al., 2019). En ellas se encuentran ecosistemas frágiles como las playas, que han sido objeto de múltiples estudios científicos para analizar el comportamiento de parámetros geográficos, sociales, económicos, culturales, ambientales, entre otros (Bates et al., 2021;Chávez et al., 2021;Milanes Batista et al., 2021;Milanés Batista & Acosta Velasco, 2021;Pranzini et al., 2016;Soto et al., 2021). ...
El artículo tiene como objetivo determinar la variación de la línea de costa, tanto por erosión como acreción, en ocho playas del municipio Santiago de Cuba, en un promedio de 14 años. Se tuvo en cuenta la fotointerpretación y digitalización de la línea costera, a partir de imágenes satelitales Sentinel y el empleo del software QuantumGIS 3.22. Los resultados demostraron una variación total de la línea de costa de -14.06 m en el período de estudio, para un promedio -1.76m según el total de playas analizadas. De manera particular, la erosión costera, alcanzó una sumatoria de -39.08m. La tasa de erosión promedio se comportó en -0.58 m/año. Las playas más afectadas fueron Casonal, Baconao, Verraco y Juraguá con tasas anuales de -1.61m en el primer caso, -0.7 m en el segundo y -0.49m en los restantes. Por otra parte, la variación por acreción se comportó en 10.96 m durante todo el período, con un promedio de 1.37m atendiendo al total de playas estudiadas y una tasa de 0.33 m/año. Estuvo presente en seis playas. Los valores más elevados de tasa anual promedio se muestran en Baconao, Cazonal y Verraco con 0.7m, 0.51m y 0.49m respectivamente. Lo anterior evidencia las modificaciones en la línea de costa, el incremento progresivo de dicha tasa y la incidencia directa de factores naturales y antrópicos.
... The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns affected the natural world and provided novel research opportunities. In many cases, the slowing of human activities, coined the 'Anthropause' [1], had positive effects on nature through reduced traffic [2,3], noise and other pollution [4,5], airspace fragmentation and human activity in coastal areas [6][7][8] (but see Bates et al. [9] for the full range of impacts). There is also evidence that the Anthropause had a positive effect on marine ecosystems and fishes [10,11] through reductions in small-scale [12][13][14][15] and, to a lesser degree, large-scale commercial fisheries [16]. ...
... For example, commercial seafood catches in the US alone were estimated to be 40% lower in 2020 compared with 2019 [17]. By contrast, the impacts of COVID-19 on coastal and freshwater ecosystems and recreational fishing are more uncertain [9,18]. Recreational fishing is a hugely important social, cultural, economic and ecological activity globally, especially in the developed world, where an estimated 10% of people participate [19,20]. ...
... restrictions was collected and standardized by the Oxford Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) [54] and has been used in other similar studies on human response to the COVID-19 pandemic [9]. To define the lockdowns in our study, we used the daily index of 'Stay-at-home requirements', with any level of stay-at-home requirement (1-3) treated as a phase of 'lockdown'. ...
It is well recognized that COVID-19 lockdowns impacted human interactions with natural ecosystems. One example is recreational fishing, which, in developed countries, involves approximately 10% of people. Fishing licence sales and observations at angling locations suggest that recreational fishing effort increased substantially during lockdowns. However, the extent and duration of this increase remain largely unknown. We used four years (2018–2021) of high-resolution data from a personal fish-finder device to explore the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on angling effort in four European countries. We show that relative device use and angling effort increased 1.2–3.8-fold during March–May 2020 and generally remained elevated even at the end of 2021. Fishing during the first lockdown also became more frequent on weekdays. Statistical models explained 50–70% of the variation, suggesting that device use and angling effort were relatively consistent and predictable through space and time. Our study demonstrates that recreational fishing behaviour can change substantially and rapidly in response to societal shifts, with profound ecological, human well-being and economic implications. We also show the potential of angler devices and smartphone applications for high-resolution fishing effort analysis and encourage more extensive science and industry collaborations to take advantage of this information.
... Multiple explanations can be made for the origin of these phenomena. Still, the experts point to factors like climate change, urbanization, and other human activities that can alter the natural environment and increase the likelihood of hazards occurring [3][4][5][6]. The global COVID-19 pandemic has recently been significant and widespread, affecting every country and sector of the global economy [7,8]. ...
... The COVID-19 lockdown in Quintana Roo, as in other Latin American countries, reduced human intervention and gave insights into how humans impact nature [5]. However, at present and after a new post-pandemic period, new ecological impacts affect diverse ecosystems [6,8,27]. This unique environmental situation is conducted as we appear from the pandemic. ...
The pandemic has led to a sharp contraction in economic activity with diverse businesses shutting down or reducing their operations. The COVID-19 pandemic is recognized as a challenge in the travel and tourism services industry. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the socioeconomic resilience of the island tourist destination of Cozumel and to determine its ability to manage a pandemic by identifying its strengths and weaknesses. This study was based on the Indicators of Socioeconomic Resilience in Island Destinations (ISRID) matrix adapted to the study territory to achieve this aim. As a result, 63 out of 890 research articles were reviewed, from which 1222 indicators were collected; nevertheless, only thirty-three indicators were selected. The assessment was also structured on a matrix of double data collection before and after the pandemic to analyze the evolution of the components essential to strengthening socioeconomic resilience. In this way, this study revealed that the island of Cozumel does not have good risk management in the presence of a pandemic phenomenon. Thus, the principal axes to reinforce abilities were implementing a comprehensive plan with multidisciplinary approaches containing themes like social participation, access to information, health, economic resources, gender inequalities, marginalization, environmental impacts, and endemic resources. Finally, the matrix developed can aid decision-makers in generating corresponding actions when designing, implementing, and evaluating socioeconomic resilience capacities to cope with a pandemic disaster in island tourist destinations.
... www.nature.com/scientificreports/ reductions in modern human mobility 14 . Not least affected by the pandemic-induced "anthropause" 15 were large commercial airports which experienced unprecedented declines in air traffic volume over the COVID-19 months of 2020-i.e., March 2020 to December 2020-and beyond 16 (Fig. 1). ...
... As such, our study provides novel insight into the relationship between air traffic volume and wildlife-aircraft collisions, offering important implications for the management of wildlife hazards at airports. From an ecological perspective, this research contributes to a growing body of literature that emphasizes and demonstrates the impact of modern human activity on wildlife and its behavior, with a particular interest in human-wildlife interactions over the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 [12][13][14][15][17][18][19][20]22 . ...
... We posit that our study and its results hold considerable relevance from both an ecological and management perspective. This research contributes to a growing body of literature that emphasizes and demonstrates the impact of modern human activity on wildlife and its behavior, with a particular interest in human-wildlife interactions over the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 [12][13][14][15][17][18][19][20]22 . Intuitively, reductions in air traffic volume reduce the number of wildlife-aircraft collisions and offer a reprieve for wildlife in absolute terms. ...
Exploiting unprecedented reductions in aircraft movements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigated the relationship between air traffic volume and the frequency of wildlife-aircraft collisions, or wildlife strikes, at the 50 largest airports in the United States. During the COVID-19 months of 2020 (March–December), both air traffic volume and the absolute number of wildlife strikes were reduced. The net effect of these two movements, however, was an increase in the wildlife strike rate from May 2020–September 2020. This increase was found to be most pronounced at airports with larger relative declines in air traffic volume. We concluded that the observed increase in the wildlife strike rate was, at least in part, generated by risk-enhancing changes in wildlife abundance and behavior within the airport environment. That is, wildlife became more abundant and active at airports in response to declines in air traffic volume.
... Reductions in ambient noise are rare, but may occur as a result of a mitigation measure or a more wide-spread event that limits human activity. Many studies have commented on the changes in animal presence and use of habitats during the 'Anthropause' [290][291][292][293] during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the potential benefits to them from reductions in anthropogenic noise. A reverse Lombard Effect was seen for some species whereby birds, for example, reduced the amplitude of their song and were able to increase the frequency range of the repertoire as competition with noise sources was reduced (see, e.g., [292,293]). ...
The behavioural, physiological, and energetic repercussions for wildlife that result from changes in their soundscapes are increasingly being realized. To understand the effects of changing acoustic landscapes, we first must establish the importance of the acoustic sense for species to transfer information between the environment, con- and heterospecifics, and a receiver, and the functional role of calling in behaviours such as foraging, navigation, mate attraction, and weaning. This review begins with a discussion of the use of calling and the acquisition of the vocal repertoire, before providing examples from multiple taxa on the functional applications of signals and communication. The acoustic sensory mode adds to, if not being inherent in, many critical life history stages over a range of species. The potential effects on an animal resulting from a change in its perceived soundscape and disturbance on its acoustics use is outlined. This can then be used to consider the implications of an altered acoustic niche or active space in the success and survival of an individual or species. Furthermore, we discuss briefly metrics that could be used to understand the implications of these changes, or could be used to guide mitigation action to lessen the impact.
... For instance, a recent assessment of the impacts of global human lockdown under the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a balanced distribution of negative and positive impacts on the confinement of humans on the environment, both in frequency and magnitude. 1 This provides evidence for a dual role of humans both as sources of impacts as well as stewards of biodiversity and ocean conservation. 1 Human pressures can impact marine ecosystems globally through rising sea levels and water temperature caused by greenhouse gas emissions 2 but also at local to regional scales through over-exploitation, 3,4 pollution, 5 habitat degradation, 6 and the introduction of invasive species. ...
... 1 This provides evidence for a dual role of humans both as sources of impacts as well as stewards of biodiversity and ocean conservation. 1 Human pressures can impact marine ecosystems globally through rising sea levels and water temperature caused by greenhouse gas emissions 2 but also at local to regional scales through over-exploitation, 3,4 pollution, 5 habitat degradation, 6 and the introduction of invasive species. 7 Impacted marine ecosystems can recover unassisted once the pressures are removed or require human intervention to deliver conservation and restoration actions. ...
