Climate, tree masting and spatial behaviour in wild boar (Sus scrofa L.): insight from a long-term study

Abstract

& Key message Climate factors affect seed biomass production which in turn influences autumn wild boar spatial behaviour. Adaptive management strategies require an understanding of both masting and its influence on the behaviour of pulsed resource consumers like wild boar. & Context Pulsed resources ecosystem could be strongly affected by climate. Disantangling the role of climate on mast seeding allow to understand a seed consumer spatial behaviour to design proper wildlife and forest management strategies. & Aims We investigated the relationship between mast seeding and climatic variables and we evaluated the influence of mast seeding on wild boar home range dynamics. & Methods We analysed mast seeding as seed biomass production of three broadleaf tree species (Fagus sylvatica L., Quercus cerris L., Castanea sativa Mill.) in the northern Apennines. Next, we explored which climatic variables affected tree masting patterns and finally we tested the effect of both climate and seed biomass production on wild boar home range size. & Results Seed biomass production is partially regulated by climate; high precipitation in spring of the current year positively affects seed biomass production while summer precipitation of previous year has an opposite effect. Wild boar home range size is negatively correlated to seed biomass production, and the climate only partially contributes to determine wild boar spatial behaviour. & Conclusion Climate factors influence mast seeding, and the negative correlation between wild boar home range and mast seeding should be taken into account for designing integrated, proactive hunting management.

Decadal changes in masting behaviour of oak trees with rising temperature

“…Masting—synchronous and highly variable seed production among years by a plant population (Kelly, )—is widespread in long‐lived species, particularly woody and wind‐pollinated species (Herrera, Jordano, Guitian, & Traveset, ). It is a conspicuous phenomenon that has confounding impacts on ecological communities (Bisi et al, ; Jones, Ostfeld, Richard, Schauber, & Wolff, ; Kelly, Koenig, & Liebhold, ; Koenig & Knops, ; Onodera, Akimoto, Shimada, & Saitoh, ; Ostfeld, Jones, & Wolff, ). Masting causes a chain reaction by influencing the growth and regeneration of trees, their population dynamics and the evolution of seed consumers, and it eventually affects the dynamics of the entire community (Jones et al, ; Koenig, Knops, Carmen, & Pearse, ).…”

High probability areas for ASF infection in China along the Russian and Korean borders

“…The 7°C is the physiological threshold for plant growth and obviously, wild boar requires a plant growing season for food. Among ungulates, wild boar exhibits strong responses to food pulses and prefers high energy food, including maize and nuts as well as cover for protection against predators (Bisi et al., ; Massei & Genov, ). Our findings suggest that if ASFV would spread into North Korea, a very high priority for customs, veterinary inspections and facilities as well as wild boar management for the western sector of the Sino‐Korean border would be required (Figure ).…”

Multi-temporal dataset of stand and canopy structural data in temperate and Mediterranean coppice forests

“…Litterfall is a key descriptor of stand vitality, soil nutrient status, and forest ecosystem productivity, while its temporal distribution provides information about the influence of environmental factors and natural/ anthropogenic disturbances on ecosystem dynamics. In addition, while most litterfall datasets are mainly limited to leaf litter, the current dataset provides also data on seed production, which can be used to either evaluate the influence of climate on mast seeding (Vacchiano et al 2017) and assess the influence of masting on pulsed-resource consumers like wild boar (Bisi et al 2018).…”