Modelling carrying capacity for wild boar Sus scrofa scrofa in a forest/heathland ecosystem
Groot Bruinderink, G.W.T.A. & Hazebroek, E. 1995: Modelling carrying capacity for wild boar Sus scrofa scrofa in a forest/heathland ecosystem. - Wildl. Biol. 1: 81-87.
The main habitat for wild boar in the Netherlands consists of a forest/heathland ecosystem. In this ecosystem we found an exclusive correlation between mast availability and nutritional condition in winter and reproduction of wild boar in the succeeding spring. This correlation was used to model carrying capacity in terms of a threshold density in winter, above which the average body weight is density-dependently reduced. The results of modelling carrying capacity of an area of forests and heathlands on poor, sandy soils, for wild boar are presented. The model is based on available mast and broadleaved grasses, the latter being the main substitute for mast during winter.
Key words: carrying capacity, density, mast, modelling, Sus scrofa scrofa, the Netherlands, wild boar
G.W.T.A. Groot Bruinderink & E. Hazebroek, Institute for Forestry and Nature Research (IBN-DLO), P.O.Box 23, NL-6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Received 14 November 1994, accepted 19 March 1995
Associate Editor: Nigel G. Yoccoz