Fig 1.
PRISMA literature search flow diagram.
The number of studies that were located, retained, and discarded are shown at each stage of the literature review process.
Table 1.
List of variables collected from articles included in the review of the effects of non-consumptive recreation on animals.
Table 2.
General management recommendations suggested by authors of articles included in the review.
Fig 2.
Published articles on the effects of non-consumptive recreation on animals by publication year.
The numbers of articles are shown as raw numbers (shaded bars) and as percentages of the overall publication volume in the journal set used in this review (trendline; a second order polynomial function).
Fig 3.
Distribution of published articles on the effects of non-consumptive recreation on animal species.
Panel (a) shows the countries where studies were conducted, and panel b) shows the distribution of studies into major habitat type(s). Since some studies involved multiple habitat types, the sum (424) is greater than the total number of articles (274). Numbers at the end of bars represent the total number of articles in each category.
Fig 4.
Evidence for an effect of recreation by taxonomic group.
Evidence is measured as the proportion of results that were statistically significant. For articles that studied multiple recreation activities, species, or response variables, each combination of variables was treated as a separate result. Common names are examples of species occurring in the included articles. We present taxonomic groups that have at least 15 results and 5 species represented; the remaining taxa are included in “other” categories for comparative purposes. Numbers following bars show the number of results, number of articles, and count of unique species. Articles that studied functional groups or communities rather than individual species (e.g., insectivorous birds) were added to the relevant “other” category and were not counted as species. Error bars show standard error for the sum of all effects.
Fig 5.
Recreation activities in the articles included in this review.
Panel (a) shows the percent of articles that included each recreation activity (numbers of articles follow the bars), and panel (b) shows the percent of results in which a statistically significant effect of recreation on an animal species was observed (number of results follow the bars). Total percentages are divided into negative, positive, and unclear effects of recreation. Error bars show standard error for the sum of all effects.
Fig 6.
Types of animal responses to recreation in the articles included in this review.
Response types have been categorized into community-, population-, and individual-level responses. Panel a) shows the percent of articles in which each response type is tested (numbers of articles follow the bars). Panel b) shows the percent of results in which a statistically significant effect of recreation on an animal species was observed (number of results follow the bars). Total percentages are divided into negative, positive, and unclear effects of recreation. Error bars show standard error for the sum of all effects.