QUANTIFYING IMPACTS OF HUMANS ON TERRESTRIAL URBAN MAMMAL ACTIVITY: A COVID-19 LOCKDOWN NATURAL EXPERIMENT | |||
| Malia M Mosser; San José State University; malia.mosser@sjsu.edu; Brigitte Scott, Yvonne Luong, Giovanni Quezada, Vanessa Guido, Maddison Erpelding, Sierra Sowa, Raymond Reyes, Dr. Jessica Castillo Vardaro | |||
The close proximity of humans and mammals in urban areas poses many challenges for both. While human activity is expected to continue increasing in the Anthropocene, little is known about how most mammals will respond. To fill this gap in knowledge, we conducted a camera trap survey, capturing mammal responses to increasing human activity that followed the dissolution of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. We deployed 50 cameras at the Googleplex campus in Mountain View from July 2020 to September 2024, yielding over 2,000,000 photos and 200,000 animal observations, including 18 mammal species. We predict that as human activity increases, sensitive mammal species will decrease their activity, while tolerant species will increase theirs. By studying fine-scale human-mammal interactions in different contexts, we aim to inform future conservation and urban planning efforts, better supporting human-wildlife coexistence. | |||
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