William McGhee

and 5 more

Urban areas present both challenges and opportunities for wildlife, with species adapting in different ways: from exploiting supplementary food resources, to altering activity patterns to avoid humans. The aim of this study was to determine which environmental factors influence the spatial and temporal use of urban landscapes by three species commonly seen in cities across the UK: grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Camera traps were deployed for six months across 24 green spaces in Glasgow, Scotland, and occupancy, density, activity, and nocturnality of the three species were modelled in relation to local- and landscape-scale variables. Grey squirrel occupancy increased with increasing woodland cover, while density appeared to decline with greater wooded and urban land, but increased with noise pollution. Activity levels were greater in woodlands, with evening peaks in activity more pronounced in less urbanised areas. Fox occupancy was also positively influenced by woodland cover, while density increased with greater proportion of urban land and the relative abundance of dogs (our proxy for human presence). Activity timings of foxes indicated that they were primarily nocturnal in more urbanised areas. Roe deer showed consistently negative associations with urban habitats and human factors (e.g., dog abundance, light pollution), indicating that they avoid anthropogenic disturbance both spatially and temporally. These results indicate that mammal species exhibit varying responses to urbanisation, and urban habitat management should consider species-specific requirements, especially for more sensitive species that benefit from larger areas of well-connected semi-natural habitats.