homehome Home chatchat Notifications


The planet healed during the lockdown. Now, researchers want to track wildlife changes during the "anthropause"

Movements, stress levels and behaviors of animals will be reviewed.

Fermin Koop
June 23, 2020 @ 9:07 pm

share Share

A group of researchers has launched a project to track wildlife before, during, and after the coronavirus lockdown, hoping to study what they call the “anthropause” –- the slowdown in human activity amid the pandemic that has likely had a profound effect on other species.

Credit Flickr

Measuring that impact will reveal the many ways in which we can “share our increasingly crowded planet”, the authors argued in an article in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. But to do so “urgent steps” are needed to allow scientists to learn as much possible from the absence of humans in landscapes.

Posts on social media over the past few months have shown unusual wildlife encounters, suggesting nature has responded to lockdown. There not only seem to be more animals than usual, but there are also some surprising visitors, for example spotting pumas prowling the streets of downtown Santiago, Chile.

However, the pandemic has also had negative effects on wildlife. Some urban-dwelling animals, like monkeys, may struggle to make ends meet without access to human food. In more remote areas, reduced human presence may potentially put endangered species, such as rhinos, at increased risk of poaching or persecution.

To address how human mobility impacts wildlife, the researchers, grouped under a consortium called “COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative,” will review the movements, stress levels and behaviors of animals before, during and after the coronavirus lockdowns. They will use data collected with animal-attached devices known as “bio-loggers”

“These bio-loggers provide a goldmine of information on animal movement and behaviour, which we can now tap to improve our understanding of human-wildlife interactions, with benefits for all,” Christian Rutz, a biologist at the University of St Andrews, UK, and part of the initiative, said in a statement.

Most of the studies that look at the impact of human presence and activity on wild animals are usually limited to comparing protected and unprotected areas, or studying landscapes following a natural disaster. But with the current context the scale is much larger, Rutz argued, and the scope can be extended.

The bio-logging team will integrate results from a wide variety of animals, including fish, birds, and mammals, in an attempt to build a global picture of lockdown effects. They reached out to the global research community, which has already offered 200 datasets, which will soon be analyzed.

For the researchers, it will be an opportunity to address previously intractable questions. “We will be able to investigate if the movements of animals in modern landscapes are predominantly affected by built structures, or by the presence of humans. That is a big deal,” said Matthias-Claudio Loretto, a fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

share Share

A Simple Heat Hack Could Revolutionize How We Produce Yogurt

In principle, the method could be deployed tomorrow, researchers say.

Scientists Create a ‘Smart Sponge’ That Knows When to Heal and When to Fight Inflammation

This hydrogel could help millions of people lead a better life.

The Race to the Bottom: Japan Is Set to Start Testing Deep-Sea Mining

There's a big hidden cost to this practice.

Japan Just Smashed the Internet Speed World Record and It's Much Faster Than You Think

Researchers transmitted 127,500 GB every second — over the distance from Chicago to Dallas.

Can You Tell Which Knot Is Strongest? Most People Fail This Surprisingly Tough Challenge

Knots are a test of physical intuition and most of us are failing hard.

Scientists Call for a Global Pause on Creating “Mirror Life” Before It’s Too Late: “The threat we’re talking about is unprecedented”

Creating synthetic lifeforms is almost here, and the consequences could be devastating.

For the First Time Ever We Can See Planets Starting to Form Around a Star

JWST and ALMA peered through a natural opening in the star’s surrounding cloud to catch the action up close.

Low testosterone isn't killing your libido. Sugar is

Small increases in blood sugar can affect sperm and sex, even without diabetes

There might be an anti-aging secret hiding in magic mushrooms

Psilocybin extends cell life, and preserves aging DNA structures.

Not Just Hunters: Wooden Tools Unearth the Sophisticated, Plant-Eating World of Early Humans

What if the Stone Age wasn't really about stone?