This research project evaluated the influence of urban factors on the visitation rates of wildlife detected in the City of Edmonton during 2018 – 2021. Wildlife data (categorized into Mammals and Birds) was obtained from the WildEdmonton Program's monitoring network, which is a joint initiative of the City of Edmonton and Dr. St. Clair Laboratory at the University of Alberta, aimed at monitoring natural areas and wildlife in the city.

Two multivariate analyses were utilized to examine the associations between wildlife visitation rates and urban factors. The first analysis involved reducing data complexity through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), followed by direct gradient analysis. This focused on five common and rare species of mammals and birds as standardized response variables, and 11 geographical variables as predictor variables. The second analysis employed multivariate regression tree analysis (MRT) to identify groups of common mammal and bird species detected in different monitoring sites, using urban features as a constraint to create clusters. The goal was to select predictor factors and thresholds that explained variance in the wildlife visitation rate of common species, to inform decision-making for future monitoring and urban planning strategies. 

This study provided significant results regarding the relationships between urban factors and wildlife visitation rates. The direct gradient analysis with PCA indicated that human presence and transportation on trails, as well as the distance from highly urbanized areas, are associated with the second component, while the first component relates to monitoring sites in areas with significant transformation or natural land covers. Common bird and mammal species are strongly associated with the first component, whereas larger mammals prefer natural areas and smaller mammals correlate with urban factors indicating transformation. The multivariate regression analysis revealed that common mammal species are easily detected at sites surrounded by at least 5% forest and located more than 40 meters away from trails, while common bird species are more easily detected at sites with over 60% transformed land covers and located more than 11 kilometers away from the city centre, with about 50% water bodies. These findings can be used to inform conservation and urban planning efforts aimed at preserving wildlife in urban areas. 

In summary, the multivariate statistical analyses performed in this research have yielded valuable insights into the intricate associations between urban factors and the rates at which common and rare species of wildlife visit urban areas. The results of this study can serve as scientific evidence to guide decision-making processes in developing future strategies for monitoring or urban planning, such as enhancing camera trapping efforts in remote areas to identify additional species or implementing location-specific tactics like ecological restoration to boost visitation rates.