Camera traps Red deer exhibit spatial and temporal responses to hiking activity

Outdoor recreation has the potential to impact the spatial and temporal distribution of animals. We explore interactions between red deer (Cervus elaphus) and hikers along a popular hiking path in the Scottish Highlands. We placed camera traps in transects at different distances (25, 75 and 150 metres) from the path to study whether distance from hiker activity influences the number of deer detected. We compared this with the detection of red deer in an additional, spatially isolated area (one km away from any other transects and the hiking path). We collected count data on hikers at the start of the path and explored hourly (red deer detection during the day), daily, diurnal (day vs night), and monthly spatial distributions of red deer. Using Generalized Linear Mixed Models with forward model selection, we found that the distribution of deer changed with the hiking activity. We found that fewer red deer were detected during busy hourly hiking periods. We found that during the day, more...