URBAN FAUNAL DYNAMICS OF BEYTEPE CAMPUS, ANKARA: Three Case Studies for Vertebrate Animals

Abstract

In this study we documented and discussed the effects of human settlement on the terrestrial fauna dynamics of an urbanized area: Hacettepe University, Beytepe Campus. We investigated three case studies by using red fox, long-eared owl and snake-eyed lizard as model organisms to evaluate the effects of urbanization on vertebrate fauna. Depending on human activities in the study area, red foxes narrowed their foraging and reproduction range due to their generalist behavior, long-eared owls left the habitats where they had lived before and snake-eyed lizards have transformed the conditions of rubble deposits into short-term advantages and their numbers, especially in new construction areas were increased. It is very important to monitor areas such as Beytepe Campus, where the temporal development of urbanization and human pressures can be traced, to put forward ecological changes in urbanized areas

Keywords

• Urban ecology,Vulpes vulpes,Asio otus,Ophisops elegans

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