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Feral Pigs: How They Impact Ecosystems

Learn about the diet, behaviors, and ecological impact of feral pigs in the USA. Discover how rooting and grubbing affect vegetation and find solutions to manage these invasive species.

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Feral Pigs: How They Impact Ecosystems

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  1. Feral PigsSus scrofa

  2. How They Came to Be

  3. USA Specific http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/wildlife_damage/content/printable_version/feral%20pigs.pdf

  4. Diet • Opportunistic omnivores • Green vegetation • Fruits and grain • Roots and bulbs (Rooting) can make up the majority of the diet in the areas studied.

  5. Problems Observed • Rooting/ Grubbing • Potentially preventing native plants from out competing exotic/invasive ones.

  6. Rooting/Grubbing Before • Destroys native young plants • Rips up native grasses After

  7. Study 1 • Responses of vegetation to a changing regime of disturbance: effects of feral pigs in a Californian coastal prairie

  8. Methods • Areas with in the prairies or meadows of interest were chosen at random in three different meadows. • In some cases they were fenced off to study the plant diversity in areas unaffected by grubbing (controls). • In the other study they were simply monitored in attempts to find a pattern to the grubbing.

  9. Findings • In some cases, grubbing was associated with some physical feature (usually damp ground or seeping water), or with the presence of a plant (e g bulb-beaning species such as Brodiaea, Dtchelostemma, Triteliaea, and Zigadenus)

  10. Results • Transects indicated that pigs annually grubbed an average of 7 4% of the area of the five study meadows (mean calculated by pooling all data. • In contrast, all native animals together (including moles, pocket gophers, ground squirrels, skunks, and ants) annually disturbed much <1%.

  11. Results

  12. Study 2 • Temporal changes in native and exotic vegetation and soil characteristics following disturbances by feral pigs in a California grassland.

  13. Methods • Patches were chosen which had known disturbance ages. • The species richness was then observed in these plots which had not been disturbed since. • Short/ Tall patches

  14. Results

  15. Proposal • Standard experiment for each area

  16. References • Ditchkoff, S. S., & West, B. C. (2007). Ecology and management of feral hogs. Human-Wildlife Conflicts, 1(2), 149-151. • Engeman, R. M., Woolard, J., Smith, H. T., Bourassa, J., Constantin, B. U., & Griffin, D. (2007). An extraordinary patch of feral hog damage in florida before and after initiating hog removal. Human-Wildlife Conflicts, 1(2), 271-275. • Forrester, D. (1992). Parasites and diseases of wild mammals in florida. GAINESVILLE, FL (USA): UNIVERSITY PRESS OF FLORIDA. • KOTANEN, . (1995). RESPONSES OF VEGETATION TO A CHANGING REGIME OF DISTURBANCE - EFFECTS OF FERAL PIGS IN A CALIFORNIAN COASTAL PRAIRIE. Ecography, 18(2), 190. • Tierney, T. A., & Cushman, J. H. (2006). Temporal changes in native and exotic vegetation and soil characteristics following disturbances by feral pigs in a california grassland. Biological Invasions, 8(5), 1073-1089. • Barrett, Reginald H., Birmingham, Grant H. (2008). WILD PIGS. ICWDM Handbook. D65-D70 • Choquenot, D., McIlroy, J. and Korn, T. 1996. Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Pigs. Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra. • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. (2008). http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org • http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/wildlife_damage/content/printable_version/feral%20pigs.pdf • http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Technology/story?id=599913

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