The mitigation of ecological/economic impacts of wild boar Sus scrofa is one of the most challenging issues in wildlife management worldwide. Monitoring population density and impact of wild boar is crucial to plan appropriate management actions to reduce its density, environmental impact and epidemiological risk, as well as to evaluate control effectiveness. In 2018–2019, we used plot-based faeces counts, coupled with specific estimates of daily defecation rates, to estimate wild boar density and rooting activity in natural/semi-natural habitats, in a Mediterranean protected area. Daily defecation rate was 6.7 faeces/individual, much lower than that of ruminants. We obtained estimates of 70.0–70.5 faeces/km 2 , corresponding to wild boar densities of c . 10.5 individuals/km 2 (relative standard error: 18%) in both years. Low daily defecation rates and skewed distribution frequencies of wild boar faeces should be considered to plan surveys with an adequate sampling design and intensity. Faeces abundance and rooting activity peaked in ecotones, i.e. open areas at the interface of wood patches, whereas they did not differ between other habitat types, suggesting a fine-scale concordance between the two indicators. Long-term monitoring is needed to assess relationships between indicators of impact and abundance at a broad scale. Our work shows how to undertake simultaneously wild boar density estimates and impact assessment in natural environments, which is particularly important for protected areas and/or habitats of conservation concern across the globally distributed Mediterranean biome.

中文翻译：

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估计地中海保护区的野猪密度和生根活动

减轻野猪 Sus scrofa 的生态/经济影响是全球野生动物管理中最具挑战性的问题之一。监测野猪的种群密度和影响对于规划适当的管理行动以降低其密度、环境影响和流行病风险以及评估控​​制有效性至关重要。在 2018-2019 年，我们使用基于地块的粪便计数以及对每日排便率的具体估计，来估计地中海保护区自然/半自然栖息地的野猪密度和生根活动。日排便率为6.7个/人，远低于反刍动物。我们获得了 70.0–70.5 粪便/km 2 的估计值，对应于 c 的野猪密度。两年内均为 10.5 人/km 2 （相对标准误差：18%）。应考虑野猪粪便的低日排便率和偏斜分布频率，以规划具有适当抽样设计和强度的调查。粪便丰度和生根活动在交错带中达到峰值，即木材斑块界面处的开放区域，而它们在其他栖息地类型之间没有差异，表明这两个指标之间存在细微的一致性。需要进行长期监测以评估影响指标与大范围丰度指标之间的关系。我们的工作展示了如何在自然环境中同时进行野猪密度估计和影响评估，这对于全球分布的地中海生物群落中的保护区和/或受保护的栖息地尤为重要。