| Popis: |
In addition to being the main habitat of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), forests provide diverse and outstanding settings for recreational activities such as hiking, horse riding and mountain biking (Jacsman, 1990). The effects of new patterns of recreational use such as night rides with bright floodlights are hotly discussed topics associated with the management of recreational forests. Animal ecology so far has mainly focused on spatio-temporal behaviour of individuals in undisturbed remote areas, while research on human behaviour mainly focused on visitor conflicts in highly frequented recreational forests (Arnberger, 2006). Therefore, our knowledge about the effects of new recreational activities on wildlife is currently insufficient. We studied the effects of mountain biking events on the immediate spatio-temporal reaction and subsequent habitat use of roe deer. Furthermore, we compared the effect of on-trail mountain bike events with other disturbance events that occurred off-trail such as hunting, orienteering and on site observations. |
