Disentangling Natural From Hunting Mortality in an Intensively Hunted Wild Boar Population
By C. Toïgo, Sabrina Servanty, J. Gaillard, S. Brandt, É. Baubet. Journal of Wildlife Management, 2008
136 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Abstract We assessed age-specific natural mortality (i.e., excluding hunting mortality) and hunting mortality of 1,175 male and 1,076 female wild boar (Sus scrofa) from Châteauvillain-Arc en Barrois (eastern France), using a 22-year dataset (1982–2004) and mark–recapture–recovery methods. Overall yearly mortality was >50% for all sex and age-classes. Low survival was mostly due to high hunting mortality; a wild boar had a >40% of chance of being harvested annually, and this risk was as high as 70% for adult males. Natural mortality rates of wild boar were similar for males and females (approx. 0.15). These rates were comparable to rates typical of male ungulates but high for female ungulates. Wild boar survival did not vary across sex and age-classes. Despite high hunting mortality, we did not detect evidence of compensatory mortality. Whereas natural mortality for males was constant over time, female mortality varied annually, independent of fluctuations in mast availability. Female wild boar survival patterns differed from those reported in other ungulates, with high and variable natural mortality. In other ungulates, natural mortality is typically low and stable across a wide range of environmental conditions. These differences may partly reflect high litter sizes for wild boar, which carries high energetic costs. High hunting mortality may induce a high investment of females in reproduction early in life, at the detriment to survival. Despite high hunting mortality, the study population increased. Effective population control of wild boar should target a high harvest rate of piglets and reproductive females.
Subfields: Ecology, Small Animals
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ff38b98b269bc3c80c36ef046d403a2f7b371bce
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Citations in the corpus
- Wild boar populations up, numbers of hunters down? A review of trends and implications for Europe. (2015, background): “wild boar may give birth earlier, which in turn allows juvenile females to grow for longer and to reach the threshold size for giving birth at one year of age.(18) In addition, under high hunting pressure a higher proportion of yearling females give birth compared to populations where hunting pressu”
- Effects of hunting with hounds on a non-target species living on the edge of a protected area (2011, background): “In particular, ungulate population dynamics are greatly influenced by harvesting (e.g. Toïgo et al., 2008), whereas only recently interest increased regarding the effects of hunting on the genetic structure of populations as well as on the distribution of key phenotypes (Allendorf et al., 2008;…”
- Do intensive drive hunts affect wild boar (Sus scrofa) spatial behaviour in Italy? Some evidences and management implications (2010, background): “However, wild boar also have a high economic value as one of the most important game species and are, as a result, subject to an intensive hunting pressure (Monaco et al. 2003; Toïgo et al. 2008; Tsachalidis and Hadjisterkotis 2008).”
- Responding to spatial and temporal variations in predation risk: space use of a game species in a changing landscape of fear (2009, background): “, road accidents; Bruinderink and Hazebroek 1996), and especially by harvesting populations (e.g., hunting; Toı̈go et al. 2008).”