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Estimating wild boar density and rooting activity in a Mediterranean protected area

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Abstract

The mitigation of ecological/economic impacts of wild boar Sus scrofa is one of the most challenging issues in wildlife management worldwide. Monitoring population density and impact of wild boar is crucial to plan appropriate management actions to reduce its density, environmental impact and epidemiological risk, as well as to evaluate control effectiveness. In 2018–2019, we used plot-based faeces counts, coupled with specific estimates of daily defecation rates, to estimate wild boar density and rooting activity in natural/semi-natural habitats, in a Mediterranean protected area. Daily defecation rate was 6.7 faeces/individual, much lower than that of ruminants. We obtained estimates of 70.0–70.5 faeces/km2, corresponding to wild boar densities of c. 10.5 individuals/km2 (relative standard error: 18%) in both years. Low daily defecation rates and skewed distribution frequencies of wild boar faeces should be considered to plan surveys with an adequate sampling design and intensity. Faeces abundance and rooting activity peaked in ecotones, i.e. open areas at the interface of wood patches, whereas they did not differ between other habitat types, suggesting a fine-scale concordance between the two indicators. Long-term monitoring is needed to assess relationships between indicators of impact and abundance at a broad scale. Our work shows how to undertake simultaneously wild boar density estimates and impact assessment in natural environments, which is particularly important for protected areas and/or habitats of conservation concern across the globally distributed Mediterranean biome.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply indebted to L. Venturi and E. Giunta (Maremma Regional Park Agency, MRPA) for their support. We are also grateful to Park wardens and to the personnel of MRPA for logistic support. Ente Terre Regionali Toscane and many landowners allowed us to conduct surveys on their land. We are grateful to L. Fattorini for statistical advice in the planning stage and for comments on an earlier draft. C. Pisani greatly helped in density estimates. We are indebted to M. Galdi, the owner of the Dogfarm Estate, who allowed us to conduct our estimate of defecation rate on his land. We thank M. Ricci, L. Bruni, F. Bazzoni and B. Esattore for support during fieldwork; L. Tonelli and L. Chelazzi for discussions on pinewood management. Servizio Idrologico della Regione Toscana kindly provided us with rainfall data. Two anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments, improving the paper. FF conceived and designed the work. NF and FF collected and analysed data as well as wrote the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Life Sciences, Ethology and Wildlife Management, Research Unit of Behavioural Ecology, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy

    Niccolò Fattorini & Francesco Ferretti

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Fattorini, N., Ferretti, F. Estimating wild boar density and rooting activity in a Mediterranean protected area. Mamm Biol 100, 241–251 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-020-00030-0

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