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<p>COVID-19 lockdown measures frequently interrupted the management efforts of invasive species, as in El Palmar National Park in north-eastern Argentina, where wild boar (<i>Sus scrofa</i>) abundance indices and damage to ground rooting and <i>Butia yatay</i> palm seedlings or juveniles had been held in check through systematic controlled shooting over 12&#xa0;years. We assessed the impact of program interruption on wild boar indices&#xa0;of abundance and damage before and after the resumption of culling operations at the park scale, and examined the relationship between abundance indices and damage. The occurrence and density of wild boar sign (dung, tracks, and ground rooting) and uprooted palm seedlings or juveniles was monitored through systematic line transects (2017–2018) and permanent random plots (austral summer 2020–winter 2022, baseline and endpoint, respectively) deployed park-wide, and in long-term fixed-strip transects in palm habitat (2019–2022). The frequency of plots with any wild boar sign at baseline (15 ± 4.0%) increased four-fold a year later (58 ± 5.0%) following program interruption while ground rooting surged six-fold; both metrics peaked in winter post-interruption. Ground rooting reached unprecedented levels by endpoint, increased exponentially in palm habitats, and its frequency rose non-linearly with increasing indices of wild boar&#xa0;abundance. Uprooted palm seedlings or juveniles were rare pre-interruption, peaked by endpoint, and their frequency was&#xa0;positively associated with&#xa0;ground rooting in palm habitats. The prolonged interruption of management efforts combined with region-wide&#xa0;lockdown led to the&#xa0;rapid resurgence of wild boar population indices and substantial damage to target conservation values, with possibly significant loss of the benefits accrued and additional costs to return the system to a desirable state.</p>

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Rapid resurgence of an invasive species and heightened damage to a palm-tree savannah after interruption of sustained management efforts by COVID-19 lockdown

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年7月26日

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  • Andrés de Miguel,
  • Gabriela Nicosia,
  • Augusto Fumagalli,
  • Romina de Diego,
  • Lucía I. Rodríguez-Planes,
  • Ricardo E. Gürtler

摘要

COVID-19 lockdown measures frequently interrupted the management efforts of invasive species, as in El Palmar National Park in north-eastern Argentina, where wild boar (Sus scrofa) abundance indices and damage to ground rooting and Butia yatay palm seedlings or juveniles had been held in check through systematic controlled shooting over 12 years. We assessed the impact of program interruption on wild boar indices of abundance and damage before and after the resumption of culling operations at the park scale, and examined the relationship between abundance indices and damage. The occurrence and density of wild boar sign (dung, tracks, and ground rooting) and uprooted palm seedlings or juveniles was monitored through systematic line transects (2017–2018) and permanent random plots (austral summer 2020–winter 2022, baseline and endpoint, respectively) deployed park-wide, and in long-term fixed-strip transects in palm habitat (2019–2022). The frequency of plots with any wild boar sign at baseline (15 ± 4.0%) increased four-fold a year later (58 ± 5.0%) following program interruption while ground rooting surged six-fold; both metrics peaked in winter post-interruption. Ground rooting reached unprecedented levels by endpoint, increased exponentially in palm habitats, and its frequency rose non-linearly with increasing indices of wild boar abundance. Uprooted palm seedlings or juveniles were rare pre-interruption, peaked by endpoint, and their frequency was positively associated with ground rooting in palm habitats. The prolonged interruption of management efforts combined with region-wide lockdown led to the rapid resurgence of wild boar population indices and substantial damage to target conservation values, with possibly significant loss of the benefits accrued and additional costs to return the system to a desirable state.