Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely. Under higher human activity, mammals were less active in undeveloped areas but unexpectedly more active in developed areas while exhibiting greater nocturnality. Carnivores were most sensitive, showing the strongest decreases in activity and greatest increases in nocturnality. Wildlife managers must consider how habituation and uneven sensitivity across species may cause fundamental differences in human–wildlife interactions along gradients of human influence.

Coexistence between species with similar ecological niches implies species must segregate along one or more niche axes to survive. Space, time, and trophic resources are regarded as the principal axes upon which species segregate. We examined segregation along these niche axes to determine mechanisms underlying coexistence between the two main predators, puma (Puma concolor) and culpeo foxes (Lycalopex culpaeus) in the Andes of Central Chile. We used occupancy modeling to examine space use and overlap, Kernel Density Estimation to determine temporal activity patterns and overlap, and analysis of prey remains in feces to assess diet breadth and similarity. We found high spatial overlap and positive associations between detection of the carnivores lending little support for spatial segregation. Similarly, we found high nocturnal, temporal overlap between pumas and foxes that matched peaks in activity of prey. In contrast, we found relatively low dietary overlap indicating niche segregation likely occurs along the dietary axis. The Puma diet was dominated by introduced, exotic hares and foxes appeared to shift away from hares to rabbits, small mammals, and seeds. Given that lagomorphs are the main dietary resource for pumas in particular, management decisions regarding the control or eradication of such exotic species could negatively affected puma survival.

The Chilean Mediterranean ecosystem is threatened by anthropogenic pressures, such as habitat loss by intensive agriculture and urban sprawl. Abandoned dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and cats (Felis silvestris catus) pose conservation challenges for Chilean wildlife including the pampas cat (Leopardus colocolo) and the güiña (Leopardus guigna). We used camera trap data to investigate influences of natural and anthropogenic landscape features on spatiotemporal trends of these species. We also used co-occurrence modeling and kernel density estimation to investigate spatial and temporal patterns overlap of wildcats, free-ranging (FR) dogs, and FR-cats. FR-dogs showed the highest detection and site use probabilities, while güiñas had the lowest across 80 camera trap sites. Top models showed no spatial avoidance between species and co-occurrence of wildcats was positively influenced by forest habitat. However, FR-dogs negatively affected detection of wildcats. Ravines surrounded by forest positively influenced güiña and pampas cat detection probabilities when dominant species were not present. FR-dogs and wildcats had significantly different temporal activity patterns and low overlap coefficients, while wildcats and FR-cats showed high overlap in activity patterns. We suggest changing current policies to control domestic animals and strategic planning in agricultural areas of central Chile to better conserve native wildcat species.

Knowledge about the puma Puma concolor in the Mediterranean Andes of South America is scarce, with little information available about its distribution and ecology. The species has been hunted in the region for centuries and seems to be relegated to remote areas, where it still comes into conflict with rural communities. Camera-trap surveys have been used to estimate puma density across the species’ distribution, and this is a relatively cost-effective approach to generate information about species abundance. We tested the performance of this method in the Andes of central Chile, where the rugged topography, unknown detection probability, and an expected low density make abundance estimation by other methods unreliable or expensive. Using a rotation of 17 camera-trap stations, for a total of 680 camera-days, we obtained 16 records of pumas and were able to identify four individuals in an effective sampling area of 628 km2 (1/2 mean maximum distance moved) or 1,518 km2 (mean maximum distance moved). Capture–recapture models estimated a minimum density of 0.3 ± SE 0.07 to 0.75 ± SE 0.17 adult pumas per 100 km2. This is the first estimate of the density of the puma in the Mediterranean Andes, and one of the lowest reported for the Neotropics. Although this low abundance does not necessarily imply a threat to the species, it suggests that the population is potentially vulnerable to threats such as illegal hunting. Our findings demonstrate that camera trapping is an effective technique in difficult field conditions and may be the most appropriate method to assess puma densities in this region.