Network dynamics revealed from eDNA highlight seasonal variation in urban mammal communities

Urban ecosystems are expanding rapidly, significantly altering natural landscapes and impacting biodiversity. Here we explore seasonal variation in mammal diversity using environmental DNA (eDNA) from soil samples collected during winter and summer across 21 urban parks in Detroit, Michigan. We estimated gamma (regional), alpha (local), and beta (compositional change) diversity to determine if seasonal shifts, reflecting winter scarcity and summer abundance in mammal community composition and human activity, could be detected using eDNA. We expected that larger parks would exhibit greater diversity and higher seasonal turnover, consistent with the species-area relationship (SAR), and hypothesised that increased summer resource availability would lead to decreased network density as species disperse more broadly. We found that urban parks show subtle, park-specific changes in community composition influenced by both ecological and anthropogenic factors, with species including striped sku..., , , # Network dynamics revealed from eDNA highlight seasonal variation in urban mammal communities

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.905qfttvb](10.5061/dryad.905qfttvb)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding results from soil samples collected across 21 urban parks in Detroit, Michigan. The data represent vertebrate species detections across two seasons (Winter and Summer), aimed at evaluating spatial and seasonal variation in mammal community composition and biodiversity in urban green spaces.

### Files and variables

#### File: Detroit\_eDNA\_master\_dataJH.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* Park: Name of the Detroit urban park
* Sample_ID: Unique identifier for each DNA sample (camera trap-season-extraction replicate)
* ID: Park sublocation (camera trap)
* Season: Sampling winter or summer
* Extraction_replicate: Three extraction replicates were made from each soil sample
* Identity: Best match taxonomic assignment...,