Urbanisation is associated with the loss and fragmentation of natural land, the disruption of ecosystem functioning and services, and the loss of biodiversity. Cape Town is situated in a global biodiversity hotspot, with high rates of endemism, but both agricultural and housing demands are increasing pressure on remaining patches of natural land and consequently the biodiversity they support. The aims of this study were to use a standardised camera trap survey to determine which native medium and large mammal species still survive in 12 City of Cape Town (CCT) municipal reserves (range 32–8400 ha), and to understand how reserve size, area-perimeter ratio, connectivity, habitat heterogeneity and presence of permanent freshwater aquatic habitat might influence medium and large mammal (>0.5 kg) community composition. Cameras were placed at 151 locations across all reserves using a stratified placement protocol that resulted in 13,360 independent trigger events by targeted taxa. Nineteen native species (11 carnivores, 7 herbivores, 1 omnivore) were recorded, which is 49% of the 39 species believed to have been present historically. Species richness varied from 1 to 12 species (mean ± SD = 7 ± 3.6) across reserves, and linear models showed that higher species richness and the presence of large carnivores was best explained by improved connectivity to large amounts of natural habitat. It is recommended that maintaining biodiversity in urban reserves will be best achieved by preserving and establishing corridors of suitable habitat that allow for the movement of animals to and from other patches.

城市化与自然土地的丧失和分割，生态系统功能和服务的破坏以及生物多样性的丧失有关。开普敦（Cape Town）位于全球生物多样性热点地区，具有很高的地方流行率，但是农业和住房需求都对剩余的自然土地及其所支持的生物多样性造成越来越大的压力。这项研究的目的是使用标准化的照相机陷阱调查来确定在开普敦市（CCT）的12个城市保护区（范围32–8400公顷）中仍存在哪些中型和大型哺乳动物物种，并了解保护区大小面积-周长比，连通性，生境异质性和永久淡水水生生境的存在可能影响中型和大型哺乳动物（> 0.5 kg）的群落组成。使用分层放置协议将摄像机放置在所有保护区中的151个位置，通过目标分类单元进行了13,360次独立触发事件。记录了19种本地物种（11种食肉动物，7种食草动物，1种杂食动物），占历史上认为存在的39种物种的49％。整个保护区的物种丰富度从1到12种不等（均值±SD = 7±3.6），线性模型显示，更高的物种丰富度和大型食肉动物的存在可以通过改善与大量自然栖息地的连通性得到最好的解释。建议通过保护和建立适当栖息地的走廊，使动物往返于其他斑块的移动，来最好地实现维持城市保护区生物多样性。