Life Sciences Commons^™

Ecological Factors Influencing Wild Pig Damage To Planted Pine And Hardwood Seedlings, Micah P. Fern, James B. Armstrong, Rebecca J. Barlow, John S. Kush

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Expanding wild pig (Sus scrofa) populations across the southern United States has the potential to impact longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) restoration efforts. The depredation of planted pine seedlings is the most widespread and economically costly damage caused by wild pigs in forest plantations. A better understanding of the ecological factors affecting depredation rates will allow managers to implement best management practices to reduce seedling mortality from wild pigs at their most vulnerable stage of growth. From March 2016 to March 2017, we evaluated wild pig preferences for planted pine and hardwood species at a 34.4-ha cutover …