Camera-traps and the city: spatiotemporal adaptations of wildlife to urban environments

Urbanisation significantly reshapes ecosystems, affecting biodiversity and
profoundly altering wildlife behaviour. Nonetheless, our understanding of
the environmental drivers of behavioural changes, as well as the
concurrent effects upon interspecific interactions, remain limited. Here,
we investigated the spatiotemporal adaptations of wildlife to urban
environments, with a focus on predator-prey dynamics in response to
urban-specific environmental characteristics, adopting a year-round
camera-trapping campaign within the metropolitan area of Florence, Italy.
Temporal and spatial activity patterns of predators, prey, humans, and
domestic animals, as well as their relative overlaps, were quantified,
revealing a marked increase in nocturnal behaviour among most wildlife
species compared to their conspecifics in rural areas. A wide temporal
overlap was recorded between predators and most of their prey (70–93%),
yet limited to night hours. Contrary to more natural settings, the effects
of moon phases were negligible upon urban mammals, and the occurrence of
humans was a strong driver of wildlife spatiotemporal behaviour. Species
richness was also shaped by environmental factors, with artificial light
negatively impacting diversity, whereas the presence of herbaceous edges
enhanced diversity of local mammal assemblages. Suburban regions emerged
as biodiversity hotspots, highlighting the critical role of green
corridors and thoughtful urban planning in mitigating biodiversity loss.
Our findings analysed the complex interface between human activity and
wildlife in urban landscapes, showing how urbanisation reshapes
predator-prey dynamics and ecological interspecific interactions.
Camera-trapping proved to be a fundamental tool, addressing observational
challenges and providing an unbiased, detailed perspective on urban
wildlife adaptations.