Authors: Louvrier, Julie; Planillo, Aimara;Stillfried, Milena ;Hagen, Robert ;Börner, Konstantin;Kimmig, Sophia;Ortmann, Sylvia ;Schumann, Anke ;Brandt, Miriam ;Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie;

Studying species interactions and niche segregation under human pressure provides important insights into species adaptation, community functioning and ecosystem stability. Due to their high plasticity in behaviour and diet, urban mesocarnivores are ideal species for studying community assembly in novel communities.

We analysed the spatial and temporal species interactions of an urban mesocarnivore community composed of the red fox and the marten as native species, the raccoon as invasive species, and the cat as a domestic species in combination with human disturbance modulated by the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown effect.

We found that species were more often detected and displayed a higher use intensity in gardens during the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown period. All three wild species spatially co-occurred within the urban area. We found that all wild species showed overlapping nocturnal activities. All species displayed temporal segregation based on temporal delay. According to the temporal delay analyses, cats were the species avoided the most by all wild species. To conclude, we found that although the wild species were positively associated in space, the avoidance occurred at a smaller temporal scale, and human pressure in addition led to high spatiotemporal overlap.