Achilles heel of a powerful invader: restrictions on distribution and disappearance of feral pigs from a protected area in Northern Pantanal, Western Brazil

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1 Fiocruz Mata Atlântica, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
3 Departamento de Biologia & CESAM (Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar), Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
4 Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.2876v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Conservation Biology, Ecology, Zoology
Keywords
Sus scrofa, Feral pigs, Pantanal, Species Distribution Models, Protected areas, Conservation planning
Copyright
© 2017 Cordeiro et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Cordeiro JLP, Hofmann GS, Fonseca C, Oliveira LFB. 2017. Achilles heel of a powerful invader: restrictions on distribution and disappearance of feral pigs from a protected area in Northern Pantanal, Western Brazil. PeerJ Preprints 5:e2876v1

Abstract

This paper focus a rare case of natural disappearance of feral pigs (Sus scrofa) in an extensive area without using traditional methods of eradication programs. The study was conducted both in the Private Reserve of Natural Heritage (PRNH) Sesc Pantanal and in an adjacent traditional private cattle ranch. In 1998 feral pigs were abundant and widely distributed in the PRNH. However, the feral pigs were gradually disappeared from the area and currently the absence of pigs in the PRNH contrasts with the adjacent cattle ranch where the species is abundant. To understand the current distribution of feral pigs in the region we partitioned the effects of variation of feral pigs presence considering the habitat structure (local), landscape composition and the occurrence of potential predators. Additionally, we modeled the distributions of feral pigs in Northern Pantanal, projecting into the past using the classes of vegetation cover before the PRNH implementation (year 1988). Our results show areas with more suitability for feral pigs in region are a landscape dominated by pastures and permeated by patches of Seasonal Dry Forest. The species tends to avoid predominantly forested areas. Additionally, we recorded that the environmental suitability for feral pigs decreases exponentially as the distance from water bodies increases. The disappearance of feral pigs into PRNH area seems to be associated with changes in the landscape and vegetation structure after the removal of the cattle. In the Brazilian Pantanal the feral pigs occurrence seems strongly conditioned to environmental changes associated to livestock activity.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Supplemental Information

Feral pigs, Sus scrofa, location points (n = 69) used for modeling

Table S1: Feral pigs, Sus scrofa, location points (n = 69) used for modeling

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2876v1/supp-1