Camera trapping is a standard practice in animal ecology to investigate the composition of communities, the relative abundance of species and their occupancy dynamics. Camera trap data can also provide valuable information about the factors affecting the overlap or segregation between species in space and time.

The Regional Natural Reserves WWF Oases “Lago di Serranella” and “Cascate del Verde” are protected areas located in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy). The Serranella Reserve hosts a mosaic of habitats (hygrophilous woodlands, scrublands, olive groves, and vineyards) and a large wetland originating in 1981, when a dam was built at the confluence of the Sangro and Aventino Rivers. Differently, the “Cascate del Verde” reserve is primarily covered by forests, fragmented by the Verde River and its gorge.

In the context of a project for updating the faunistic checklists of these reserves, we deployed camera traps between July 2024 and November 2025 to monitor their mammal communities. We analysed the obtained data in R environment to explore the activity patterns of the observed species, across three trophic groups: apex predator (Canis lupus italicus), mesopredators (e.g., Vulpes vulpes, Meles meles), and herbivores (e.g., Sus scrofa, Capreolus capreolus).

Observation frequency and daily activity patterns of some species (e.g., roe deer), as well as the temporal overlap between the Apennine wolf and its main preys - wild boar and roe deer - notably differed between the two reserves, probably due to the different amount of agriculture-driven habitat fragmentation. Less pronounced discrepancies emerged for the mesopredators and the crested porcupine Histryx cristata, which might be linked to a lower predation pressure on these species by the Apennine wolf in both reserves.

Our results reinforce previous evidence about camera traps representing a crucial tool for investigating the spatio-temporal dynamics of mammals’ activity and assessing their drivers.