Urban noise and its predictability moderate perceived risk associated with roads in grey squirrels

Human activity and disturbance are thought to be perceived as a source of risk analogous to predation risk in wildlife. As such, can alter behaviour and habitat use of foraging animals. Through increased exposure to human disturbance, urban wildlife may face an increase in perceived risk during food acquisition. Urban habitats also include novel resources that could result in urban wildlife having to face distinct trade-offs associated with foraging and patch use. To examine how a successful invasive mammal, the eastern grey squirrel, balances risk and safety under human disturbance, we measured giving-up densities (GUD) at artificial food patches placed at sites subject to varying levels of urbanisation to investigate how features associated with human disturbance might influence feeding decisions. We found differences in GUDs between ‘safe’ and risky’ patches were reduced closer to roads under noisy conditions, suggesting that the risk of predation is perceived by squirrels as re..., , # Urban noise and its predictability moderate perceived risk associated with roads in grey squirrels

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qdm](10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qdm)

## Description of the data and file structure

In this paper, we measured grey squirrel giving up densities (GUD) at sites subject to varying levels of urbanisation and human disturbance, to investigate how these features might influence feeding decisions.

**MeanGUD.csv** - File description

| **Variable name** | **Description** |
| :---------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| PairID | ID of food patch – consists of two GUD foraging trays, one safe and one risky. |
| Site | Site name |
| PC1 | Site level urbanisation index ...,