Urban wild boars prefer fragmented areas with food resources near natural corridors

Castillo‐Contreras, Raquel; Carvalho, João; Serrano, Emmanuel; Mentaberre, Gregorio; Fernández-Aguilar, Xavier; Colom, Andreu; González‐Crespo, Carlos; Lavı́n, Santiago; López‐Olvera, Jorge Ramón

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.277

Cited by 101 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The capacity of wild boars to colonize different habitats and become an invasive species is due not only to their general habitat requirements, but also its biological characteristics, like the high reproduction rate, omnivorous diet, and behavioral plasticity [ 24 – 26 ]. Their ecological plasticity together with the growing urbanization process have allowed wild boars to colonize urban and periurban areas, increasing the risks associated with its presence and becoming a big concern for the government and managers [ 27 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer habitat use and activity patterns of wild boar Sus scrofa in rangelands of central Argentina

et al. 2018

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Biological invasions are one of the main components of human-caused global change and their negative impact on invaded ecosystems have long been recognized. Invasive mammals, in particular, can threaten native biodiversity and cause economic impacts in the region where they are introduced, often through a wide range of conflicts with humans. Although the wild boar, Sus scrofa, is considered by the IUCN as one of the 100 invasive species most damaging to biodiversity in the world, in Argentina there have only been a few studies focused on its ecology with most of them conducted in protected areas. In this study, we evaluated the effect of several factors related with human disturbance, landscape composition, degree of fragmentation and the presence of a potential competitor and a predator on the habitat use of wild boar using data from camera traps and site-occupancy modeling. Additionally, we described the daily activity pattern of the species and we studied the level of overlap with both a potential competitor and a predator. The sampling effort totaled 7,054 camera trap days. Farm density, proportion of shrubland and proportion of grassland with bushes were the detection variables included in the most supported model whereas proportion of grassland and capture rate of the Pampas fox Lycalopex gymnocercus were the occupancy variables included in the most supported model. However, the proportion of grassland was the only variable that showed statistically significant support in the averaged model, indicating that habitat use of wild boar in this area was significantly negatively affected by the level of grass cover. Wild boars were mostly nocturnal, with more activity between 21:00 and 3:00 and a peak around midnight. Wild boars showed a high level of overlap with the activity pattern of the Pampas fox and a low overlap with the activity pattern of the puma Puma concolor. Despite wild boar being introduced in Argentina a few decades ago, this study is the first landscape-scale research carried out in an agricultural landscape in Argentina and the first one based on camera-trapping data. Our study contributes valuable information that could be used to design strategies to reduce wild boar population or to minimize the damage caused by this invasive species in Argentina.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer habitat use and activity patterns of wild boar Sus scrofa in rangelands of central Argentina

et al. 2018

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“…Whether some strains may be more likely to cause chronic infection than other HEV strains also in animals need further investigation. This is particularly important because of the high rate of HEV‐infected wild boars lacking anti‐HEV and which can transmit these virus strains through the constant increase in the number and intensity of direct and indirect interactions between humans and wild boars in Barcelona (Castillo‐Contreras et al., ; Fernandez‐Aguilar et al., ) and in Sweden (Jansson et al., ). The increasing populations and geographical spread of the wild boars into farmlands may also cause direct and indirect contacts with and possible transmission of viruses to livestock (Jansson et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ongoing expansion of wild boar populations leads to increasing contacts with humans, such as wild boars colonizing suburbs and urban areas, damaging crops and causing traffic accidents (Kotulski & König, ; Primi, Pelorosso, Ripa, & Amici, ). In the Collserola Natural Park (CNP), an 80 km 2 Natura 2000 site within the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (BMA), the wild boars invade suburban areas and parks, where their presence poses specific management problems and health issue challenges (González‐Crespo et al., ; Castillo‐Contreras et al., ; Cahill, Llimona, & Gracia, ; Cahill, Llimona, Cabaneros, & Calomardo, ). In Sweden, wild boars are entering into gardens, villages and farm lands to seek for food (Jansson, Månsson, & Magnusson, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetically similar hepatitis E virus strains infect both humans and wild boars in the Barcelona area, Spain, and Sweden

Wang

Castillo‐Contreras

Saguti

et al. 2019

Transbound Emerg Dis

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Summary Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a hepatotropic virus, endemic in Europe where it infects humans and animals, with domestic pigs and wild boars as main reservoirs. The number of HEV‐infected cases with unknown source of infection increases in Europe. There are human HEV strains genetically similar to viruses from domestic pigs, and zoonotic transmission via consumption of uncooked pork meat has been shown. Due to continuous growth of the wild boar populations in Europe, another route may be through direct or indirect contacts with wild boars. In the Collserola Natural Park near Barcelona, Spain, the wild boars have spread into Barcelona city. In Sweden, they are entering into farmlands and villages. To investigate the prevalence of HEV and the risk for zoonotic transmissions, the presence of antibodies against HEV and HEV RNA were analysed in serum and faecal samples from 398 wild boars, 264 from Spain and 134 from Sweden and in sera from 48 Swedish patients with HEV infection without known source of infection. Anti‐HEV was more commonly found in Spanish wild boars (59% vs. 8%; p < 0.0001) while HEV RNA had similar prevalence (20% in Spanish vs. 15% in Swedish wild boars). Seven Swedish and three Spanish wild boars were infected with subtype 3f, and nine Spanish with subtype 3c/i. There were three clades in the phylogenetic tree formed by strains from wild boars and domestic pigs; another four clades were formed by strains from humans and wild boars. One strain from a Spanish wild boar was similar to strains from chronically infected humans. The high prevalence of HEV infections among wild boars and the similarity between wild boar HEV strains and those from humans and domestic pigs indicate that zoonotic transmission from wild boar may be more common than previously anticipated, which may develop into public health concern.

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“…Hunting activities, especially in areas where many wild boar are killed every year, such as Central Italy, represent one of the most common causes of interactions not only with humans, but also with hunting dogs [2]. At the same time, in recent years, these animals have been more often spotted in urban and peri-urban zones [3]. Likewise, wild boar frequently come into contact with domestic animals, especially where extensive or semi-extensive breeding is adopted [4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathotypes and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Escherichia Coli Isolated from Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in Tuscany

Bertelloni

Cilia

Bogi

et al. 2020

Animals

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Wild boar are among the most widespread wild mammals in Europe. Although this species can act as a reservoir for different pathogens, data about its role as a carrier of pathogenic and antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli are still scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of antimicrobial-resistant and pathogenic Escherichia coli in wild boar in the Tuscany region of Italy. During the hunting season of 2018–2019, E. coli was isolated from 175 of 200 animals and subjected to antimicrobial resistance tests and PCR for detection of resistance and virulence factor genes. The highest resistance rates were against cephalothin (94.3%), amoxicillin–clavulanic acid (87.4%), ampicillin (68.6%), and tetracycline (44.6%). The most detected resistance genes were blaCMY-2 (54.3%), sul1 (38.9%), sul2 (30.9%), and tetG (24.6%). Concerning genes encoding virulence factors, 55 of 175 isolates (31.4%) were negative for all tested genes. The most detected genes were hlyA (47.4%), astA (29.1%), stx2 (24.6%), eaeA (17.1%), and stx1 (11.4%). E. coli was classified as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) (21.7%), enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) (6.3%), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) (5.1%), and atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC) (3.4%). Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), and typical enteropathogenic E. coli (tEPEC) were not detected. Our results show that wild boars could carry pathogenic and antimicrobial-resistant E. coli, representing a possible reservoir of domestic animal and human pathogens.

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Urban wild boars prefer fragmented areas with food resources near natural corridors

Cited by 101 publications

References 31 publications

Summer habitat use and activity patterns of wild boar Sus scrofa in rangelands of central Argentina

Summer habitat use and activity patterns of wild boar Sus scrofa in rangelands of central Argentina

Genetically similar hepatitis E virus strains infect both humans and wild boars in the Barcelona area, Spain, and Sweden

Pathotypes and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Escherichia Coli Isolated from Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in Tuscany

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