Urban Wildlife Adaptation and Emerging Health Risks for Human Communities

Abstract

The increasing presence of adapted urban wildlife and the growing urban wildlife-human interface raise new and novel public health challenges. Urbanization changes the behavior and ecology of wildlife, allowing new populations of adaptable wildlife to thrive in urban settings. This study analyzes the health challenges posed to human cities through the processes of urban wildlife adaptation. Through the integration of spatial metrics of wildlife activity, behavior and temporal adaptations, environmental overlap assessments, and risk characterization, the analysis suggests that adaptive behavior within urban land uses, as compared to wildlife abundance, is more likely to pose a health risk to humans. Increased public health risk can be attributed to greater temporal overlap with humans, more synanthropic resources, and spatial clustering. Increased risk can also be the result of a more indirect environmental exposure pathway. The correlation between wildlife activity and human population density may lead to risk variation across urban areas. More adapted wildlife leads to a greater public health risk. These findings help highlight the growing need to integrate urban wildlife ecology with public health surveillance and urban planning. This also validates the need to monitor and mitigate the health risks at the urban wildlife-human interface.