It's know as the "dissuasive effect", and it's well studied (see:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012088......

and

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1744-1617.......

)

Now, obviously it isn't a magic barrier/tarp, but as long as there isn't too much of a cost/impact to making use of it, there is a selective advantage to taking advantage of this effect.