Some Ecosystem Responses to European Wild Boar Rooting in a Deciduous Forest

摘要

The influence of rooting by European wild boar (Sus scrofa) upon surface fauna, nutrients and biomass of forest litter and soil was investigated in the northern hardwood forest of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 1979-1980. Rooting by wild boar mixed A1 and A2 soil horizons and reduced ground vegetative cover and leaf litter. Two vertebrates that depend largely on leaf litter for habitat, the red-backed vole (Clethrionomys gapperi) and short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda), were nearly eliminated from intensely rooted stands. Two other mammals and five salamanders that preferred more aboreal or subterranean habitats were unaffected by the rooting.