Not all small meat eaters have the same attitudes or outlooks on life. This is especially true due the varying biodiversity and population growth. While the numbers of small carnivores in urban areas is very small, there are small carnivore like animals that inhabit urban areas. The growing human population is why we are seeing a lack of smaller carnivores. Just as the problem with other studies, the same conclusion was made in this study, humans are the problem and they are the ones that need to change. 

  The prediction is that, by 2030, urbanization will grow by about 1.2 million km^2 to accommodate growing populations. This prediction shows the desperate need for research and investigation into protecting wildlife despite urbanization. There have been a couple attempts made to get more knowledge on this subject; however, that was before 1970 when there were limited resources available. If research is done now, 50 years later, there is a greater chance to yield better results. Urbanization will not stop because the human population is growing very rapidly, instead, we need to support and help wildlife adapt to these changes.

The methods of this study were slightly shocking to me. Rather than researchers doing the “hard-work” themselves, they used published papers from other studies. They used a total of 643 published articles to establish evidence for the study. The earliest of these studies began in the 1900’s with the most recent being in 2021.  Due to this, there is no exact location where the study took place.

Results of this study appeared to be similar to other similar studies. The researchers in this particular study studied more of a logistical effect of urbanization on wildlife. Given this, studies up to 1991 only 34 of the 643 studies or about 5.3% focused on small carnivores living in urban areas.  This number has risen at an exponential rate and is now 389 out of 643 studies or 60.5%. All of these studies suggested there were dangers to small wildlife with urbanization, but concluded there was no real “fix.”

Streicher, Jarryd P., et al. “Not All Mammalian Small Carnivores Are Equal: A Global Review of the Research Effort in Urban Areas.” BioOne Complete, Southern African Wildlife Management Association, bioone.org/journals/african-journal-of-wildlife-research/volume-53/issue-1/056.053.0072/Not-All-Mammalian-Small-Carnivores-are-Equal–A-Global/10.3957/056.053.0072.full. Accessed 23 Sep. 2024. 

The purpose of this study was to educate the public about the negative effects of feeding birds. It is common for people to see birds and want to feed them, although, they do not realize the detrimental effects it has on the birds. Birds are scavengers and if people start feeding them, they become reliant on humans instead of their instincts. This can lead to severe injury and death. 

This study was conducted in Massachusetts over a two year time span, from 2011 to 2013. The focus of this study was to monitor people who feed seagulls and gather data. There were eight parking lots surveyed and divided into two categories, educational lots and no educational lots. Educational lots informed people of the dangers of feeding birds and asked them to stop feeding them while non educational lots did not put signs out, nor did they ask the public to stop feeding the birds. Researchers spent about 1200 hours total in these parking lots during the study. 

The target species of seagulls was ring- billed gulls or Lorus delawarensis. These seagulls are one of the most common and account for 98 percent of the seagull population. The results showed there were less humans feeding bids in educational lots by about .01 in one monitoring session. The results also showed, that in two monitoring sessions, the amount of seagulls frequenting the educational lot had increased by about .08. This led to the non educational lots being transformed into educational lots. Even after this change, there was no significant difference in the amount of birds seen. There was a decent decrease in the feedings by about .055.

This study showed that humans feeding birds is one of the most common wildlife interactions, about 95% of people feed birds. Unfortunately, because it has been going on for so long, feeding wild birds is not going to stop. The only way to create a safer environment is to educate humans on the effects. This study did a good job of bringing awareness and educating the public about the dangers of feeding wild birds. 

Clark, D. E., Whitney, J. J., MacKenzie, K. G., Koenen, K. K. G., & DeStefano, S. (2015). Assessing gull abundance and food availability in urban parking lots. Human – Wildlife Interactions, 9(2), 180-190. https://proxying.lib.ncsu.edu/index.php?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/assessing-gull-abundance-food-availability-urban/docview/1733928388/se-2

This study was conducted to analyze the effects of black bear populations in urban areas. The intention was to gain data from all of North America; however, this study mostly focused on two communities in Colorado as that was a convenient location for researchers. The way of gaining data for this study was through a survey sent via mail and published on the internet. Researchers were then permitted to visit the homes of respondents in June of 2007. They discovered there is a rising problem with black bear encounters in the United States and one hope for this study was to find a way humans and bears can live together in harmony. Black bears are large animals, and can easily scare humans, even without trying to. The main goal of this study was to educate people about black bears and their desire to get food, not harm humans. 

A study carried out in the United States, Mexico, and Canada has shown that about 82% of respondents believe confrontation or conflicts with black bears is becoming a more common occurrence. A study done by the same researchers shows that 62% of respondents believe the conflicts come from bears having increased access to trash or other food. Essentially, this study revealed that humans were responsible for increased bear encounters by leaving trash and other bear attracting food out. The respondents were not simply from neighborhoods as urban areas also include apartments, buildings, offices, and private homes. 

There were very few challenges in getting people to participate in the study. Researchers visited residence in order to ask for participation, of the places visited, 24% of people or 553 people were talked to. As mentioned, the primary ways of sending the survey were via mail or through internet responses. Of the 24% connected with, 84% wanted an internet version and 7% wanted it mailed to them. Additionally, 3% requested a Spanish copy of the mailed version while 6% refused to participate. There were very few people who were contacted that chose not to participate in the study.

This study allowed for researchers to come up with ways to avoid human conflicts with bears in the area. Included below is a table of best practices to avoid these conflicts and the degrees at which they are effective. According to respondents, the best thing to do that results in a positive outcomes is to observe the bear from afar and watch for dangerous behaviors.

Don Carlos, Andrew W. Bright, Alan. Teel, Tara L. Vaske, Jerry J. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10871200902839316#d1e307. Accessed 13 Sep. 2024.