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Is wild boar rooting a form of damage or an effect? Combined impacts of wild boar rooting and water erosion on some soil properties
* 1 , 2 , 1, 3 , 3
1  Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
2  Department of Wildlife Biology and Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, , H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
3  Department of Wildlife Biology and Management, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Academic Editor: Kevin Cianfaglione

Abstract:

Wild boar activities are well known and well described worldwide. They cause a lot of conflicts, but their measured parameters are rarely published, with the literature concentrating on the emotional perceptions of the matter. Furthermore, as we go into detail, e.g., the wild boar and pedology or the wild boar and erosion, we find even less research on these connections/topics. In a recent research study, we examined a Hungarian grassland with 50% bush cover on a steep slope that could result in considerable soil water erosion. The null hypothesis was that the wild boar causes differences in soil properties at different scales in the eroded and sedimented parts of slope sections. Soil samples from wild boar rootings (20-50 cm deep), from the ring around these rootings (15-25 cm high) and from nearby control areas (1-2 m distance from the ring) were collected from the upper and the lower third sections of the slope. Samples were analyzed with a near-infrared soil scanner (Agrocares Ltd). Our study explores how wild boar rooting relates to water erosion-related pedological parameters (phosphorus, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), pH and clay content). The amount of phosphorus was higher at the lower third of the slope than at the upper third of the slope, while pH was higher in samples collected from the upper third of the slope. Wild boar rooting caused notable differences in TOC levels between the rooting and the ring in both thirds of the slope. Phosphorus levels were lower in the rooting compared to the rings.

Keywords: wildlife, impact, phosphor, pH, clay, soil organic matter, organic carbon

 
 
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