The presence of human activity and development affects the distribution and behavior of carnivore species in various ways. It is necessary to examine the effects of urbanization and associated habitat fragmentation on the spatial ecology of predators, in order to develop a comprehensive understanding and formulate a proactive approach towards biodiversity protection in such areas. In this study, we observed patterns of occurrence and activity of carnivores in four preserves in metropolitan the New York and New Jersey region. Over the course of a ten-month trail camera study, 104 randomly positioned camera stations (5642 trap nights) yielded 793 total captures of 7 species: black bear (Ursus americanus), bobcat (Lynx rufus), coyote (Canis latrans), opossum (Didelphis virginiana), raccoon (Procyon lotor), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis). We found correlations between captures and level of human development, preserve size, and time of day of capture. Further, we found that the relative abundance of carnivores was higher in preserves with a higher level of surrounding development, suggesting the use of these habitat fragments as refuges. Coyotes and raccoons were more likely to be observed in areas with higher development. All carnivores combined were more likely to be observed at night in areas wither higher development, indicating a temporal response of carnivores to human activity. Our results emphasize the value of preserving intact habitat fragments in urban and suburban areas, and strongly suggest that carnivore use of parkland and greenspace should be monitored continuously to measure impacts on these species as conversion of surrounding land persists.

中文翻译：

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城市化对纽约都会区食肉动物的影响

人类活动和发展的存在以各种方式影响肉食动物物种的分布和行为。有必要研究城市化和相关的生境破碎化对捕食者空间生态的影响，以便发展出全面的了解并制定积极主动的方法来保护此类地区的生物多样性。在这项研究中，我们观察了纽约和新泽西大都市地区四个保护区中食肉动物的发生和活动模式。在为期10个月的追踪相机研究过程中，随机设置了104个相机站（5642个陷阱之夜），共捕获793种7种物种：黑熊（Ursus americanus），山猫（Lynx rufus），土狼（Canis latrans），负鼠（Didelphis virginiana），浣熊（Procyon lotor），赤狐（Vulpes vulpes）和条纹臭鼬（Mephitis mephitis））。我们发现捕获物与人类发展水平，保护区大小和捕获时间之间存在相关性。此外，我们发现食肉动物的相对丰度在具有较高周围发育水平的蜜饯中较高，表明使用这些栖息地碎片作为避难所。土狼和浣熊在发展程度较高的地区更可能被观察到。所有食肉动物的组合都更可能在夜间发育较高的地区观察到，表明食肉动物对人类活动的时间响应。我们的研究结果强调了在城市和郊区保留完整的栖息地碎片的价值，并强烈建议应不断监测公园和绿地的食肉动物使用情况，以评估周围土地转换的持续性对这些物种的影响。