U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

 

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

ORCID IDs

McDonough http://orcid.org/0009-0002-6253-7324

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2024

Citation

Journal of Wildlife Management (2024)88: e22662

doi: 10.1002/jwmg.22662

Comments

United States government work

Abstract

There is insufficient understanding of interspecific interactions with the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) and wild pigs (Sus scrofa). Wild pigs compete with wild turkeys and predate nests and adults; however, population‐level effects on wild turkeys are not clear. Using cameras, we assessed responses of wild turkey populations to wild pig removal in central Alabama, USA, from 2018–2021. We compared wild turkey relative abundance and occupancy on 3 large‐scale pigremoval treatment sites (3,407–5,531 ha) relative to a control site (2,510 ha) during 1 pre‐treatment year and 2 posttreatment years, with analyses including a covariate expressing the cumulative number of pigs removed from each site standardized by the initial pig abundance on the site. We removed 1,851 wild pigs from the 3 treatment sites over 22 months. Based on N‐mixture modeling, when the number of pigs removed was equal to our baseline population estimates (i.e., 100% removal relative to initial population), there were 1.50 (95% CL = 1.01–2.23) times as many wild turkeys, and detection of wild turkeys was 2.01 (95% CL = 1.49–2.70) times as likely. Additionally, poults were 3.49 (95% CL = 1.12–10.89) times as likely to occupy an area when the number of pigs removed was equal to our baseline population estimates compared with poult occupancy at baseline pig abundance. Our data suggests that reduction of wild pig populations may lead to a localized increase in populations of wild turkeys.

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