Mori Emiliano, Molteni Riccardo, Ancillotto Leonardo, Ficetola Gentile Francesco, Falaschi Mattia
Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), National Research Council (CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), 50019 Italy.
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy.
Urban Ecosyst. 2022;25(6):1797-1803. doi: 10.1007/s11252-022-01264-1. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
Human settlements, including cities, may provide wildlife with new ecological niches, in terms of habitat types and food availability, thus requiring plasticity for adaptation. The crested porcupine is a habitat-generalist, large-sized rodent, also recorded in some suburban areas, but no information is available on its habitat use in metropolitan landscapes. Here, we assessed the land-use factors influencing the presence of crested porcupines in a metropolitan area of Central Italy. We collected data on the occurrence of crested porcupines from the metropolitan area of Rome, following an observer-oriented approach to record occurrences and retreive pseudo-absences. We then related the presence/absence of to landscape composition. Occupancy models showed that cultivations and scrubland were positively related to porcupine presence, most likely as they provide food resources and shelter sites, respectively. Although the crested porcupine has been confirmed as a "generalist" species in terms of habitat selection, a strong preference for areas limiting the risk of being killed and providing enough food and shelter was observed. We therefore suggest that the crested porcupine may adapt to deeply modified landscapes such as large cities by selecting specific favourable land-use types.
人类住区，包括城市，可能会在栖息地类型和食物供应方面为野生动物提供新的生态位，因此需要具备适应的可塑性。豪猪是一种适应多种栖息地的大型啮齿动物，在一些郊区也有记录，但关于其在大都市景观中的栖息地利用情况尚无相关信息。在此，我们评估了影响意大利中部一个大都市地区豪猪出现的土地利用因素。我们采用以观察者为导向的方法，收集了罗马大都市地区豪猪出现的数据，以记录其出现情况并获取伪缺失数据。然后，我们将豪猪的出现与否与景观组成联系起来。占有率模型表明，耕地和灌木丛与豪猪的出现呈正相关，最有可能的原因是它们分别提供了食物资源和庇护场所。尽管豪猪在栖息地选择方面已被确认为“泛化种”，但我们观察到它们强烈偏好那些能降低被捕杀风险且提供足够食物和庇护的区域。因此，我们认为豪猪可能通过选择特定的有利土地利用类型来适应像大城市这样深度改造的景观。
