City coyotes' poor diets could make them more aggressive, study suggests

AUGUST 8, 2019

by Bev Betkowski, University of Alberta

City coyotes' garbage-based diets are affecting their gut bacteria and that could affect how they interact with humans, new University of Alberta research shows.

"It could possibly promote aggressive behavior," said Scott Sugden, who conducted the research to earn his master's degree in science.

In analyzing the gut microbiome of 76 urban and suburban coyotes, Sugden found urban coyotes were surviving on a protein-poor diet that lacked game native to their natural diets, like rodents and deer.

Stomach contents revealed scrounged meals that included leather gloves, a still-wrapped burrito, fast food wrappers, even a chunk of pineapple.

"There's not much nutrition there for a carnivore," said Sugden.

Alongside this change in diet,the microbiome of the coyotes contained less of one specific bacterial group, Fusobacterium. Lower abundances of these bacteria have been loosely associated with aggression in dogs, so the same possibility exists for their wild canine relatives, he said.

Continued

Urban biodiversity: Remarkable diversity of small animals in Basel gardens

Date:  January 30, 2019

Source:  University of Basel

Gardens in urban areas can harbor a remarkable diversity of species. This has been found by researchers from the University of Basel in a field study carried out with the support of private garden owners from the Basel region. Furthermore, the research team shows that nature-friendly garden management and design can largely compensate for the negative effects of urbanization on biodiversity. The study will be presented at the public conference "Nature conservation in and around Basel" on 1 February 2019.

More and more people around the world live in cities. Accordingly, settlement areas are also rapidly increasing, often at the expense of near-natural habitats. So far, it has been widely assumed that the few green spaces remaining in cities can only accommodate a limited number of species. The reason for this is the high proportion of sealed areas, which makes the exchange of small animals difficult or even impossible. In addition, cities have higher temperatures and less precipitation than rural areas.

Continued

Bumblebees thrive in towns more than countryside

Urban bumblebees have better access to food, allowing them to produce more offspring

Nicola Davis

Wed 27 Jun 2018 00.01 BST

Bumblebee colonies fare better in villages and cities than in fields, research has revealed.

Bumblebees are important pollinators, but face threats including habitat loss, climate change, pesticide and fungicide use and parasites. Now researchers say that bumblebee colonies in urban areas not only produce more offspring than those on agricultural land, but have more food stores, fewer invasions from parasitic “cuckoo” bumblebees, and survive for longer.

“[The study] is not saying that cities are necessarily the ideal habitat for bees, it is just that they are doing better in the cities than in the countryside,” said Ash Samuelson, a doctoral student and first author of the research from Royal Holloway, University of London.

While researchers have previously found a greater variety of pollinator species in urban settings, Samuelson says the latest study goes further, revealing that it is not simply that bumblebees make a flying visit to urban locations, but that populations are stronger there.

Continued