Urbanisation and human activities influence the co-occurrence of red
squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and meso-carnivores in Berlin, Germany.
Abstract
Urban expansion is a major driver of habitat fragmentation, shrinking
wildlife habitat, and restricting wildlife movements and activity
patterns. In this novel environment, species also must adapt to the new
composition of wildlife communities. For example, red squirrels (Sciurus
vulgaris) are commonly found in urban environments, while their
potential predators have also managed to accommodate and even thrive in
cities. Consequently, studying species interactions in an urban
landscape provides crucial insights into our understanding of species’
plasticity and behavioural adjustments to novel situations. This study
aims to understand the potentially novel predator-prey interactions in
private gardens of Berlin, specifically between red squirrels and red
foxes (Vulpes vulpes), raccoons (Procyon lotor), martens (Martes sp.),
and cats (Felis catus). We used a raster of 200 camera traps per season,
in total 575, located in private gardens of citizens of Berlin, which
detected the species during four sampling seasons between 2019 and 2020.
We first applied single occupancy models for each species separately to
understand the variation in the detection and occupancy of each species
at given environmental variables. We then assessed the co-occurrence of
squirrels with the meso-carnivores by applying a multi-species occupancy
model. We found that squirrels were more likely to occur during autumn
than in spring and at a higher percentage of local tree cover, which has
been confirmed by previous studies. Additionally, results suggested that
squirrels are more likely to occur when cats were absent, suggesting an
avoidance of the latter. However, squirrels did not display clear
patterns of negative or positive co-occurrence with other wild
meso-carnivores. These results demonstrate the complexity of species
interactions in urban settings.