Mammals adjust diel activity across gradients of urbanization

Time is a fundamental component of ecological processes. How animal
behavior changes over time has been explored through well-known ecological
theories like niche partitioning and predator-prey dynamics. Yet, changes
in animal behavior within the shorter 24-hour light-dark cycle have
largely gone unstudied. Understanding if an animal can adjust their
temporal activity to mitigate or adapt to environmental change has become
a recent topic of discussion and is important for effective wildlife
management and conservation. While spatial habitat is a fundamental
consideration in wildlife management and conservation, temporal habitat is
often ignored. We formulated a temporal resource selection model to
quantify the diel behavior of eight mammal species across ten U.S. cities.
We found high variability in diel activity patterns within and among
species and species-specific correlations between diel activity and human
population density, impervious land cover, available greenspace,
vegetation cover, and mean daily temperature. We also found that some
species may modulate temporal behaviors to manage both natural and
anthropogenic risks. Our results highlight the complexity with which
temporal activity patterns interact with local environmental
characteristics, and suggest that urban mammals may use time along the
24-hour cycle to reduce risk, adapt, and therefore persist in
human-dominated ecosystems.