Urbanization may alter mammal assemblages via habitat loss, food subsidies, and other factors related to human activities. The general distribution patterns of wild mammal assemblages along urban–rural–forest landscape gradients have not been studied, although many studies have focused on a single species or taxon, such as rodents. We quantitatively evaluated the effects of the urban–rural–forest gradient and spatial scale on the distributions of large and mid-sized mammals in the world's largest metropolitan area in warm-temperate Asia using nonspecific camera-trapping along two linear transects spanning from the urban zone in the Tokyo metropolitan area to surrounding rural and forest landscapes. Many large and mid-sized species generally decreased from forest landscapes to urban cores, although some species preferred anthropogenic landscapes. Sika deer ( Cervus nippon ), Reeves' muntjac ( Muntiacus reevesi ), Japanese macaque ( Macaca fuscata ), Japanese squirrel ( Sciurus lis ), Japanese marten ( Martes melampus ), Japanese badger ( Meles anakuma ), and wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) generally dominated the mammal assemblage of the forest landscape. Raccoon ( Procyon lotor ), raccoon dog ( Nyctereutes procyonoides ), and Japanese hare ( Lepus brachyurus ) dominated the mammal assemblage in the intermediate zone (i.e., rural and suburban landscape). Cats (feral and free-roaming housecats; Felis catus ) were common in the urban assemblage. The key spatial scales for forest species were more than 4000-m radius, indicating that conservation and management plans for these mammal assemblages should be considered on large spatial scales. However, small green spaces will also be important for mammal conservation in the urban landscape, because an indigenous omnivore (raccoon dog) had a smaller key spatial scale (500-m radius) than those of forest mammals. Urbanization was generally the most important factor in the distributions of mammals, and it is necessary to consider the spatial scale of management according to the degree of urbanization.

Temporal and spatio-temporal niche partitioning is an important strategy for carnivore coexistence. Camera-trap data has been analyzed through several methods to assess the temporal and spatio-temporal niche partitioning. However, different analytical approaches used to may evaluate niche partitioning detect different results. In this study, we evaluated the temporal or spatio-temporal partitioning among sympatric medium-sized carnivores, red foxes, raccoon dogs, and Japanese martens, based on three analytical methods—the temporal overlap, temporal co-occurrence, and time-to-encounter analysis—to evaluate. From May to October 2019 and 2020, we obtained the activity of the target species using camera-traps in northeastern Japan. We analyzed the data with the coefficient of temporal overlap, probabilistic co-occurrence analysis, checkerboard score, and multi-response permutation procedures. The results of the assessment of the niche partitioning differed depending on the analytical methods based on temporal and spatio-temporal partitioning. Therefore, we conclude that the choice of analytical approach is important for evaluating the temporal and spatio-temporal niche partitioning.

Our aim was to determine biogeographical patterns in the food habits of golden jackals by first reviewing their dietary patterns at the continental scale and then analysing associations between the food items in their diets and geographical, regional productivity and land-use variables, using multivariate analyses. Our findings indicated that jackals generally consume small mammals as a staple food but shift to consume plant materials or the carcasses of larger mammals when food resources are scarce owing to changes in the regional climate and productivity, as well as anthropogenic habitat modifications. Disruption of natural food resources (specifically small mammals) due to anthropogenic landscape modifications provokes dietary shifts in golden jackals, potentially increasing their reliance on anthropogenic resources. Consequently, conservation of their habitat in combination with waste management to decrease the accessibility to anthropogenic resources is required to resolve human-jackal conflicts.

We studied the diet of the raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in the two urban parks by fecal analysis in winter, when their nutritional condition is important for breeding. From December 2015 to March 2016, we collected 39 feces from 14 latrines for defecation of raccoon dogs in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (n = 31) and the Toyama Park (n = 8), located in central Tokyo. The samples were analyzed by the hand sorting method, and the frequency of occurrence for each food item was calculated. As a result, seeds (97.4%), birds (48.7%), and earthworms (48.7%) were detected as main food items. Major seeds of fruits detected were Hovenia dulcis (56.4%), Celtis sinensis (35.9%), Aphananthe aspera (25.6%), and Diospyros kaki (20.5%). These were planted tree species for gardens and urban greening. Preyed birds consisted mainly of Passeriformes (20.5%), Podicipedidae (7.7%), and Phalacrocoracidae (7.7%). Compared with other studies, fruits were main food items in not only urban parks but also ot...