Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Impacts Of Recreational Aviation On Wildlife: The Physiological Stress Response In White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) And Associated User Perceptions, Devin W. Landry

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Recreational aviation on public lands may negatively impact wildlife. However, land-use decisions need to balance user need with wildlife impact. We know very little about 1) how back country airstrip use affects local wildlife, or 2) attitudes and perceptions of recreational pilots toward possible management actions. For my Master’s research, I investigated how aircraft activity influenced physiological measures of stress in white-tailed deer, while also modeling how psychometrics such as wildlife attitudes and place attachment predict the willingness of recreational pilots engage in impact-mitigating behaviors. I measured physiological stress through non-invasive sampling of stress hormones in fecal samples (fecal glucocorticoid …