Wildlife use of private gardens in south-eastern Norway

Abstract

Urbanisation typically results in a reduction in biodiversity. Studies of urban wildlife have shown that the increase in extinction risk tends to be higher with increasing urban areas. Yet, in urban environments, private gardens may provide important habitat for a large number of birds, mammals and amphibians worldwide. Of Norway’s 5.37 million residents, 82% live in urban settlements. To my knowledge, there are no studies to date that have investigated wildlife in private gardens in Norway using camera traps. The aim of the current study is to investigate what animals can be found in private gardens in south-eastern Norway, and if there is a difference in the occurrence of species between urban and rural areas. I used camera trap data collected with citizen scientists from 71 private gardens and investigated the difference in species occurrences and detectability between urban and rural areas using occupancy models. In total, the camera traps yielded 3193 wildlife detection events. Seven mammal species and several bird species were detected, and the species richness was higher in urban areas. The occupancy analysis showed that the domestic cat (Felis catus) and common magpie (Pica pica) had a significantly higher detection probability in urban than rural areas, whereas there was no significant difference in occupancy between urban and rural areas for any of the detected species. The results suggest that gardens are important for wildlife both in urban and rural areas, and that urban gardens in south-eastern Norway can support a variety of wildlife.