Outdoor recreation causes effective habitat reduction in Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus: a major threat for geographically restricted populations

Outdoor recreation inflicts a wide array of impacts on individual animals, many of them reflected in the avoidance of disturbed areas. The scale and spatial extent, however, at which wildlife populations are affected, are mostly unclear. Particularly in geographically isolated populations, where restricted habitat availability may preclude a relocation to undisturbed areas, effective habitat reduction may remain underestimated or even unnoticed, when animals stay in disturbed areas and only show small-scale responses. Based on telemetry data of 12 individuals, we investigated the spatial and seasonal effects of outdoor recreation, on western capercaillie Tetrao urogallus, considering two sc…