Human activity in Antarctica has the potential to cause disturbance to wildlife. In severe cases, human disturbance to wildlife can cause declines in breeding success, physical harm and even sometimes, direct mortality. Human disturbance can also induce physiological stress responses, which translate into animal behavioural responses like increased vigilance or fleeing behaviour, or avoidance of disturbed areas. Human disturbance effects vary as a function of extrinsic factors such as the type of disturbance, its form, magnitude and frequency. Different species, and even different populations of the same species, show widely differing responses to human disturbance. This variability means that generalisations of the impact of human disturbance to Antarctic wildlife cannot yet be made, and at least with current knowledge, a single effective set of guidelines for all Antarctic species is unlikely to be achieved.

Antarctic wildlife Behavioural stress Human disturbance Physiological stress