, 2007). Additionally, avoidance of an encroaching competitor/predator (the coyote) has resulted in increased road mortality in red foxes because they are utilizing habitat that brings them closer to human habitation (Gosselink et al., 2007). Waves of disease have also resulted in significant mortality in carnivores. In dense urban populations, where individuals live in closer proximity to each other, it is intuitive that the likelihood of an infectious disease spreading may be increased (but see also White, Harris & Smith, 1995, who predicted Tipifarnib in vivo that heterogeneity of urban habitats meant lower frequency of contact between rabies infected and uninfected British foxes than in rural

populations of a similar density). We summarized 29 studies that included cause of death statistics

for red fox, coyote, badgers, selleck kinase inhibitor bobcats and raccoon to investigate whether the causes of death differed between urban and rural areas (Fig. 2). We identified the absolute numbers of animals where cause of death was identified as due to motor vehicles (‘cars’ or ‘road-kill’), hunting/euthanasia, toxicity, predation/aggression, disease, starvation/emaciation and unknown/other. Road accident has been listed as a major cause of mortality in carnivores, killing a large proportion of badgers (57%), red foxes (40%), coyotes (31%), bobcats (38%) and skunks (30%), with little difference evident between urban and rural habitats where these data are available (Fig. 2). Road death is likely to be biased towards individuals that disperse further, for example, males and juveniles (Baker et al., 2007). Of the 151 recorded deaths of black bears in urban environments (over a 10-year period), all were due to humans, and 89 of 151 (59%) were killed by vehicles (Beckmann & Lackey, 2008). In urban areas, deaths exceeded recruitment meaning urban areas

were sinks for this species (Beckmann & Lackey, 2008). Notably, an estimated 50 000 badgers are believed to die on British roads each year (Harris et al., 1992, 1995), which equates 上海皓元医药股份有限公司 to 49% of all adult and post-emergence cub fatalities. We could not find published mortality statistics specifically for urban badgers for comparison. Road accident is a major cause of death in urban raccoons (31%), but less so for rural animals (8%). Roads can act as barriers to dispersing wildlife (e.g. pumas Beier, 1995; bobcats and coyotes; Riley et al., 2003), although this can be mitigated by culverts and underpasses (Grilo, Bissonette & Santos-Reis, 2008; Harris et al., 2010a), while Bristol red foxes change their activity patterns, avoiding roads prior to midnight when traffic volume is higher (Baker et al., 2007). Hunting and destruction (i.e. euthanasia) are the next most common causes of death among carnivores (Fig. 2).