1. As human activities expand globally, there is a growing need to identify and mitigate barriers to animal movements. Fencing is a pervasive human modification of the landscape that can impede the movements of wide‐ranging animals. Previous research has largely focused on whether fences block movements altogether, but a more nuanced understanding of animals' behavioural responses to fences may be critical for examining the ecological consequences and prioritizing conservation interventions.
2. We developed a spatial‐ and temporal‐explicit approach, Barrier Behaviour Analysis (BaBA, available as an r package), to examine individual‐level behaviours in response to linear barriers. BaBA classifies animal‐barrier encounters into six behaviour categories: quick cross, average movement, bounce, back‐and‐forth, trace and trapped. We applied BaBA to wide‐ranging female pronghorn Antilocapra americana and mule deer Odocoileus hemionus in an area of western Wyoming, USA, with >6,000 km of fencing.
3. We found both species were extensively affected by fences, with nearly 40% of fence encounters altering their normal movements, though pronghorn were more strongly affected than mule deer. On average, an individual pronghorn encountered fences 250 times a year—twice the encounter rate of mule deer. Pronghorn were more likely to bounce away from fences, whereas deer engaged in more back‐and‐forth, trace and average movement near fences.
4. We aggregated these behavioural responses to demonstrate how BaBA can be used to examine species‐specific fencing permeability and to identify problematic fence segments in order to guide fence modification or removal.
5. Synthesis and applications. Our work provides empirical evidence on how fences affect wildlife movement. Importantly, Barrier Behaviour Analysis (BaBA) can be applied to evaluate other linear features (such as roads, railways and pipelines) and habitat edges, enhancing our ability to understand and mitigate widespread barrier effects to animal movement.

中文翻译：

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屏障行为分析（BaBA）揭示了围栏对大范围有蹄类动物的广泛影响

1. 随着人类活动在全球范围内的扩展，对识别和减轻动物运动障碍的需求日益增长。围栏是人类对景观的一种普遍的修改，可能会阻碍范围广泛的动物的活动。先前的研究主要集中在围栏是否完全阻止移动，但是对动物对围栏的行为反应的更细致的了解对于检查生态后果和优先考虑保护措施至关重要。
2. 我们开发了一种空间和时间显式方法，即屏障行为分析（BaBA，可作为r软件包使用），以检查响应线性屏障的个人行为。BaBA将动物屏障遭遇分为六种行为类别：快速穿越，平均移动，反弹，来回，追踪和被困。我们在美国怀俄明州西部地区将BaBA应用于范围广泛的雌性叉角羚Antilocapra Americana和长耳鹿Odocoileus hemionus，围栏> 6,000 km。
3. 我们发现这两种物种都受到围栏的广泛影响，近40％的围栏遭遇改变了它们的正常运动，尽管叉角羚比than鹿受到的影响更大。平均而言，一个叉角羚一年会遇到篱笆250次，是m的遭遇率的两倍。叉角羚更有可能从围栏反弹，而鹿在围栏附近进行更多的来回，追踪和平均运动。
4. 我们汇总了这些行为响应，以展示如何使用BaBA来检查特定物种的围栏渗透性并识别有问题的围栏段，以指导围栏的修改或拆除。
5. 综合与应用。我们的工作提供了有关围栏如何影响野生动植物活动的经验证据。重要的是，屏障行为分析（BaBA）可以用于评估其他线性特征（例如道路，铁路和管道）和栖息地边缘，从而增强我们理解和减轻对动物运动的广泛屏障影响的能力。