Wild boar's (Sus scrofa) role in the vegetation dynamics of water bodies of Oksky state reserve.

摘要

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a native inhabitant of the southeastern Meshchera lowland. However, as a result of human activity, biotic communities evolved for a long time in the absence this species. When, after a long absence, wild boars reappeared in the Oksky reserve nearly 50 years ago and began to restore its population quickly, the activity of these animals became a new factor of disturbances. Rooting by wild boar can strongly affect wetland and aquatic vegetation, although the effect of wild boar on freshwater ecosystems has seldom been studied. We characterized the use of different types of water bodies by wild boars and assessed long-term and short-term changes in vegetation of water reservoirs under the influence of a wild boar by the example of the Oksky Reserve. Sagittaria sagittifolia was a species that was most attractive for wild boars of any water and wetland vegetation. Vegetation is most intensely disturbed by the animal at floodplain water bodies without significant muddy sediments and at the Pra and Oka rivers. However, the vegetation dynamics begins to be influenced by wild boar activity only in the waters of the high floodplain that are not regularly flooded by spring waters. This influence is expressed as a reduction and thinning of Sagittaria sagittifolia patches, an increase in heterogeneity and patchiness of vegetation on disturbed plots, and formation of naked sites lacking vegetation (in wallows made by the animals). Comparison of our data with initial descriptions of vegetation in ten oxbows of the Pra that were made before wild boar introduction showed an increase in the occurrence of Sagittaria sagittifolia at the level of plant associations and water bodies. This is probably due to the fact that a disturbance of dense thickets of dominant plants of the coastal zone by boars provides favorable conditions for the invasion of species such as Sagittaria sagittifolia.Notes Translated from Rossiiskii Zhurnal Biologicheskikh Invasii (2013) No. 3, 69-87 (Ru).