Spatial ecology of crested porcupine in a metropolitan landscape

Abstract

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 Hystrix cristata 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 H. cristata 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.

No city for wetland species: habitat associations affect mammal persistence in urban areas

“…All these elements provide space to natural vegetation remnants within the urban matrix (as in [9]) and, consequently, shelter to wild species from many taxonomic groups [22,53], including mammals (e.g. [21,27]). Our work highlights the important role of habitat preferences in predicting species' trends in modified habitats [54], a key asset for the conservation of threatened species, and the development of wildlife-friendly and sustainable cities in the future.…”

“…Rome may be considered as an ideal setting to study urban mammals, thanks to a long tradition of natural history studies and large amounts of data available from its area (e.g. [23][24][25][26][27]). The mammalian assemblage in Rome features ca 40 species, according to the Atlas of Mammals of Rome project [24]: the most common and widespread mammals in the area are few highly adaptable species that thrive in anthropogenic landscapes (e.g.…”

“…several bats listed in Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive). Three alien mammals occur in the urban area of Rome, deriving from ancient introduction events (the crested porcupine Hystrix cristata ; [27]) and more recent ones (the Siberian chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus , and the coypu Myocastor coypus ; [24,26]).…”

How abundant is a species at the limit of its distribution range? Crested porcupine Hystrix cristata and its northern population

“…In Italy, the species is homogeneously distributed in the central regions (Figure 1), while in both northern and southern areas it is present with a much more fragmented distribution (Mori et al, 2021). Despite a wide range of environmental parameters, such as land use, feeding habitats, occupancy etc., have been described (Mori et al, 2013(Mori et al, , 2017(Mori et al, , 2021(Mori et al, , 2022, little is known about the population density (i.e. the number of individuals within an area) and demographic trends.…”