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Patterns of crop damage by wild boar (Sus scrofa)in Luxembourg over a 10-year period

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Abstract

In many European countries, the wild boar (Sus scrofa) is often associated with crop damage. In this study, we analyse data relating to 13,276 cases of wild boar damage to agricultural crops over a 10-year period in Luxembourg (an area of 2,586 km2 in Western Europe). Results show that (1) damage is more severe in this area than in others; (2) damage to permanent grassland is far more frequent and more severe than damage to annual crops; (3) trichomatous crops such as barley are avoided; (4) damage is seasonally distributed according to type of crop; (5) damage is distributed spatially in a non-uniform manner; (6) damage intensity is significantly correlated with wild boar hunting bags, both over time and space. We suggest that wild boar management strategy should always take into account the issue of damage to agricultural crops. Our results imply that measures for preventing or reducing damage should be more targeted in time and space and that adjustments to cropping patterns should contribute towards a reduction of wild boar damage.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Manfred Berger, Jos. Flammang, Jean Haupert, Jean-Paul Hoffmann, Anja Kihn, Danièle Murat, Tom Schuller, Josette Sunnen and Marc Wagner for their help in obtaining the necessary data, Jean-Michel Gaillard and Richard A. Griffiths for their invaluable help with statistics, and Eric Baubet, Jean-Michel Gaillard, François Klein, Franz Kremer, Timothy J. Roper, Frank Wolff and two anonymous referees for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service de la Conservation de la Nature, Direction des Eaux et Forêts, 16 rue Eugène Ruppert, 2453, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Laurent Schley

  2. Centre de Recherche de la Nature, des Forêts et du Bois, 23 Avenue Maréchal Juin, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium

    Marc Dufrêne

  3. Service de la Chasse, Direction des Eaux et Forêts, 16 rue Eugène Ruppert, 2453, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Ady Krier

  4. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Alfred Denny Building, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Alain C. Frantz

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  1. Laurent Schley
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  2. Marc Dufrêne
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Correspondence to Laurent Schley.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Schley, L., Dufrêne, M., Krier, A. et al. Patterns of crop damage by wild boar (Sus scrofa)in Luxembourg over a 10-year period. Eur J Wildl Res 54, 589–599 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-008-0183-x

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