An Individual‐based Model for Feral Hogs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Abstract

Abstract. The expansion of feral hog (Sus scrofa) populations in the United States has resulted in increased efforts to develop and implement control strategies designed to minimize the impacts done by this invasive species. We describe an individual-based model for feral hogs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). The objectives of the model are to provide an understanding of the population dynamics of this feral hog population and to determine the efficacy of the annual harvest as a population control method. Results suggest that the dynamics of the population are driven by * Corresponding author. René A. Salinas, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA, e-mail: salinasra@appstate.eduReceived by the editors on 7 t h July 2014. Accepted 30 t h December 2014. 18This article is a U.S. government work, and is not subject to copyright in the United States. AN INDIVIDUAL-BASED MODEL FOR FERAL HOGS 19fall hard mast production and the GSMNP harvests currently limit growth of the population, but these control efforts have not reduced the population.

A Metapopulation Model for Feral Hogs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

“…Our project and Salinas et al. [] estimate a similar annual harvest rate, predict a similar population level and both emphasize the importance of the control program. Although based on similar data, the two models also differ in a number of ways.…”

“…Most recently, an individual‐based model (IBM) was constructed for feral hogs in GSMNP that resulted from the same NIMBioS working group and is based on the similar harvest data (Salinas et al. []). In the IBM, the annual total of the harvest data was only used to estimate constant harvest and mortality rates.…”

Optimization and Control of Agent-Based Models in Biology: A Perspective

“…For example, controlling non-native species such as the wild hog Sus Scrofa in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Peine and Farmer 1990) has created a number of political difficulties, and mathematical models are beginning to suggest management strategies (Salinas et al. 2015; Levy et al. 2016).…”

Evaluating wild hog preferences to guide control strategies in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

“…Two recent papers were written about wild hogs in GSMNP using removal data provided by the Park and vegetation data obtained via LiDAR (Great Smoky Mountains National Park Wild Hog, 2012 Madden, Welch, Jackson, Seavey, & Seavey, ). The first paper contains on agent based model in which individual hog behavior is modeled in order to examine population dynamics (Salinas et al., ). The second paper has a discrete metapopulation model that uses parameters that were carefully estimated using available data (Levy et al., ).…”