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Seasonal spatial ecology of the wild boar in a peri-urban area

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Abstract

The parallel expansion of anthropogenic environments and wild boar Sus scrofa populations has favoured the intrusion of the species into many European metropolitan areas, including Rome. In this study, we used Maxent to analyse the seasonal spatial ecology of the wild boar in Marcigliana natural reserve, a rural area located in the northeastern suburbs of Rome. The wild boar avoided urban settlements year-round. In the growing season, it had a higher probability of occurring with an increasing presence of turkey oak Quercus cerrioides woods, but seemed to be partially adapted to the presence of arable lands, which had a marked negative effect only when very abundant. These results lead us to hypothesise that the species in this part of the year adopts a spatial strategy which optimises the trade-off among the need for thermal cover and food resources. In autumn and winter, the species avoided meadows and pastures. The analysis of wild boar spatial ecology in metropolitan areas is essential to provide important information contributing to the development of effective plans for managing peri-urban populations and mitigating conflicts with humans.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the rangers of Marcigliana natural reserve for their help in data collection and to Fabrizio Foschi for his assistance in layers digitization. We also would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the first version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ente Regionale RomaNatura, Via Gomenizza 81, 00195, Rome, Italy

    Sara Amendolia & Paola Pierucci

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Marco Lombardini & Alberto Meriggi

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  1. Sara Amendolia
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  2. Marco Lombardini
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  3. Paola Pierucci
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  4. Alberto Meriggi
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Correspondence to Marco Lombardini.

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Communicated by: Teresa Abaigar Ancín

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Amendolia, S., Lombardini, M., Pierucci, P. et al. Seasonal spatial ecology of the wild boar in a peri-urban area. Mamm Res 64, 387–396 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-019-00422-9

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