Urban wildlife – Visitors to the wild city get their own photo album!

In the future, city residents can report via a website if rabbits, badgers, etc. are spotted in the area. “StadtWildTiere” collects wildlife observations in cities to increase residents’ awareness of biodiversity in urban areas in Central Europe.

Data collection also serves as a basis for scientific analysis. Moreover, the knowledge collected by citizens is intended to promote nature and biodiversity in urban areas.

Discover what is hidden
Urban ecology is still a young field and urban wildlife populations have not been the subject of research to date. “StadtWildTiere allows us to identify previously hidden patterns and temporal trends, for example in the context of urban densification and the heat island effect, especially with regard to climate change. The initiative can therefore also serve as a sensor for future interactions between people and wildlife,” explains co-author Theresa Walter from the Vetmeduni Research Institute for Wildlife Science and Ecology.

Important basis for decisions at political level
In the long term, the scientists suggest that projects like StadtWildTiere should create a basis for comparative, international monitoring to close existing knowledge gaps about urban wildlife populations.

Biodiversity
According to co-author Richard Zink from the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research (KLIVV) at Vetmeduni, the data obtained from this goes far beyond science: “This knowledge is also crucial for political decision makers and nature managers. to find the right strategies and adopt measures. This mainly concerns the question of how biological diversity in cities can be effectively improved.”