Spatial covariation assessment between wild boars and other mammals in peri-urban landscapes: insights for management from southern France
Abstract
Urbanization is rapidly increasing, transforming ecosystems and favoring generalist species that adapt to humanmodified environments. The wild boar, a highly adaptable species, is expanding its range and increasingly observed in urban and peri-urban areas, where it can cause accidents, damage, and health concerns. To mitigate their presence, non-lethal control strategies such as vegetation clearing in peri-urban parks and wastelands are being implemented to reduce the number of suitable resting sites. However, the ecological consequences of such habitat modifications on other wildlife species remain poorly understood. This knowledge gap limits the development of effective urban wild boar management strategies that seek to balance ecological, social and economic considerations without lethal control of wild boar populations. In this context, we used 48 camera-traps deployed over a year to study the covariation between wild boars and other mammal species in a peri-urban area, with the aim of guiding targeted and effective management strategies. Here, we show a widespread presence of wild boars but no spatial or temporal covariation between the wild boars and the other species. In contrast, we found strong spatial structuring but little temporal variation of the mammal community, confirming that spatial factors, rather than seasonal changes, largely shaped species distributions. The study of the temporal variation across months indicated minimal seasonal structuring but revealed substantial within-site variability in month-to-month species abundance, with a general abundance gradient driven by common species like wild boar, cat, and fox. In conclusion, our results show that the lack of spatial covariation between wild boar and other species prevents reliable predictions, supporting a targeted rather than general approach to vegetation management.
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BibTeX
@article{barachin2026spatial,
title = {{Spatial covariation assessment between wild boars and other mammals in peri-urban landscapes: insights for management from southern France}},
author = {Laurine Barachin and Jules Dezeure and Sonia Saïd and Raphaël Mathevet and Eric Baubet and Simon Chamaillé-Jammes},
journal = {European Journal of Wildlife Research},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1007/s10344-026-02111-w},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05852940v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Spatial covariation assessment between wild boars and other mammals in peri-urban landscapes: insights for management from southern France
AU - Laurine Barachin
AU - Jules Dezeure
AU - Sonia Saïd
AU - Raphaël Mathevet
AU - Eric Baubet
AU - Simon Chamaillé-Jammes
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/23
JO - European Journal of Wildlife Research
DO - 10.1007/s10344-026-02111-w
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05852940v1
AB - Urbanization is rapidly increasing, transforming ecosystems and favoring generalist species that adapt to humanmodified environments. The wild boar, a highly adaptable species, is expanding its range and increasingly observed in urban and peri-urban areas, where it can cause accidents, damage, and health concerns. To mitigate their presence, non-lethal control strategies such as vegetation clearing in peri-urban parks and wastelands are being implemented to reduce the number of suitable resting sites. However, the ecological consequences of such habitat modifications on other wildlife species remain poorly understood. This knowledge gap limits the development of effective urban wild boar management strategies that seek to balance ecological, social and economic considerations without lethal control of wild boar populations. In this context, we used 48 camera-traps deployed over a year to study the covariation between wild boars and other mammal species in a peri-urban area, with the aim of guiding targeted and effective management strategies. Here, we show a widespread presence of wild boars but no spatial or temporal covariation between the wild boars and the other species. In contrast, we found strong spatial structuring but little temporal variation of the mammal community, confirming that spatial factors, rather than seasonal changes, largely shaped species distributions. The study of the temporal variation across months indicated minimal seasonal structuring but revealed substantial within-site variability in month-to-month species abundance, with a general abundance gradient driven by common species like wild boar, cat, and fox. In conclusion, our results show that the lack of spatial covariation between wild boar and other species prevents reliable predictions, supporting a targeted rather than general approach to vegetation management.
SN - 1612-4642
ER -