Ecotourism and off-road recreational disturbances can be threats to wildlife inhabiting protected areas. Here we investigate flight response patterns in blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) inhabiting the Ningxia Helan Mountain National Nature Reserve, China. We found that flight initiation distance (distance at which animals begun fleeing a slowly approaching human) and final flight distance (distance at which the blue sheep stopped fleeing) varied across the reserve and was a function of the level of tourism in each focal area.
In areas of heavy ecotourism, blue sheep allowed humans to approach closer, fled at a slower speed and did not flee as far compared to
sheep inhabiting areas with less intense ecotourism. Flight initiation distance did not vary seasonally but final flight distance did. There was no group size effect on the flight responses. Both flight initiation distance and final flight distance were negatively correlated with the number of daily tourists, and positively correlated with the distance to anthropogenic constructions such as houses and roads. Blue sheep appear to have remained in areas with large anthropogenic disturbances because of abundant water, and have habituated to the presence of tourists in areas of heavy ecotourism. Moderate ecotourism may not cause blue sheep population decline.
Long-term studies of population dynamics are important for conservation biology and wildlife management. We conducted 2790 line transects and observed 12516 blue sheep Pseudois nayaur from 2004 to 2009 in the Ningxia Helan Mountain National Nature Reserve of China, and found that the blue sheep population size fluctuated from 12375 in 2004 to 8188 in 2006 then 13344 in 2009, but did not ascend or decline continuously. Population size was positively correlated with the number of rainy days during the previous year. We divided the reserve into high, middle and low density areas according to average sheep encounter rates, and found that in different density areas blue sheep had different population dynamics, sex ratios and group sizes. Ratios between females and males, females and juveniles, and adults and juveniles were not different across six years in all three density areas. Group sizes increased with population size. We deduce that the blue sheep population will not increase or decrease constantly in the reserve, and that managers should manage varying density areas differently to maximize the conservation of blue sheep.