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- Title
Colonization and habitat selection of a declining farmland species in urban areas.
- Authors
Mayer, Martin; Sunde, Peter
- Abstract
Despite the accelerating global urbanization and its associated implications for wildlife and humans, we know little about the biology of urban ecosystems. Here, we investigated colonization and habitat selection of the European hare (Lepus europaeus), a declining farmland species, in urban areas in Denmark, using a combination of citizen science data and transect counts. Further, we estimated the population density of urban hares in Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city. Our results provide the first evidence that hares have established populations in urban areas, potentially in response to decreasing habitat quality in rural areas due to agricultural intensification. The hare density in Aarhus was ca. 8 hares per km2, which is comparable to or slightly higher than hare abundance estimates from various pastural areas in Europe, suggesting that urban areas provide suitable habitat for hares. Hare habitat selection was generally associated with areas consisting of large lawns, such as high buildings and parks, which potentially provide high-quality forage throughout the year. Considering the increasing expansion of urban areas and deteriorating habitat quality of agricultural areas, urban planning that incorporates habitat requirements for wildlife could help to support urban animal populations, especially for species of conservation concern.
- Subjects
ARHUS (Denmark); DENMARK; HABITAT selection; CITIES &; towns; URBAN ecology; URBAN density; WILDLIFE conservation; CITY dwellers
- Publication
Urban Ecosystems, 2020, Vol 23, Issue 3, p543
- ISSN
1083-8155
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11252-020-00943-1