Urban Wildlife Information in Freiburg (UWIF)

Human-wildlife coexistence in cities is a complex phenomenon. While some wildlife species decline with increasing urbanization, some other species finds their way to adapt and live close to humans in urban areas. So far, we know little about the dynamics of animals’ existence and their use of habitats in urban environments. As part of the 'Urban Wildlife Information in Freiburg (UWIF)' project, the Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Management is using wildlife camera traps to investigate animal diversity along the urbanization gradient in Freiburg. How does wildlife use urban areas? What is the role of socio-ecological dynamics in urban wildlife diversity? Are different green infrastructures features and habitat connectivity significantly shaping wildlife in urban settlements? We aim to investigating these aspects in Freiburg under the UWIF project.

Currently, the project is ongoing in collaboration with FVA wildlife institute in Freiburg. It has a partnership with Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN). UWIN is an international association of urban wildlife researchers from more that 40 cities across the North America, Europe and Africa. It is facilitating the improvement of knowledge gaps in the field of urban wildlife ecology across cities to contribute to global biodiversity monitoring. Freiburg is the first European city to join the network. As a partner of the network, we use a similar standardized method for recording wildlife through camera trapping, thus making data sets comparable across cities of different regions. The project in Freiburg has the potential to provide consistent data to get insight of how wildlife diversity is influenced by different anthropogenic aspects in Freiburg. It would eventually strengthen the foundation for wildlife-friendly urban management and planning.

Study sites: An interactive online map is available to see our camera trap locations and list of mammal species observed through camera trapping in Freiburg in the following link - https://rpubs.com/Wildtiere-Freiburg/1054908

© Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Management/ UWIF