Diet of invasive wild pigs in a landscape dominated by sugar cane plantations

Autor(es)

Pedrosa, Felipe ^{[1, 2]} ; Berce, William ^[1] ; Costa, Vladimir Eliodoro ^[3] ; Levi, Taal ^[4] ; Galetti, Mauro ^{[5, 1]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Paulista, UNESP, Inst Biociencias, Dept Biodiversidade, Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[2] Mao Na Mata Manejo & Solucoes Ambientais, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Estadual Paulista, UNESP, Inst Biociencias, Ctr Isotopos Estaveis, Botucatu, SP - Brazil

^[4] Oregon State Univ, Dept Fisheries & Wildlife, Corvallis, OR 97331 - USA

^[5] Univ Miami, Dept Biol, Coral Gables, FL 33124 - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY; v. 102, n. 5, p. 1309-1317, OCT 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Understanding the mechanisms by which alien species become invasive can assure successful control programs and mitigate alien species' impacts. The distribution of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) has been sharply expanding throughout all regions of Brazil in the last few years. Here we demonstrate that large monocultural plantations provide the primary resource subsidies to invasive wild pigs in Brazil. We analyzed 106 stomach contents and carbon stable isotopes (delta C-13) of 50 hair samples of wild pigs from a population inunersed in a landscape dominated by sugar cane agriculture. Stomach contents were dominated by corn (41%), sugarcane (28.5%), vegetal matter (all other vegetation besides crops, 27%), and animal matter (vertebrates and invertebrates, 4%). Bayesian mixing model analysis of delta C-13 showed that food sources from C-4 photosynthetic pathway (represented by corn and sugarcane) accounted for 94% of the long-term diet, while C-3 food sources for only 6.2%. Our results indicate that corn and sugar cane are subsidizing the diet of wild pigs and can facilitate the population growth of this invasive species. Given that Brazil is a major agricultural producer and a hotspot of biodiversity, it is extremely concerning that extensive agriculture may accelerate the expansion of this invasive species, resulting in economic losses and cascading effects on natural habitats. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 16/15436-7 - Ecologia isotópica dos ungulados neotropicais diante da invasão dos suídeos asselvajados
• Beneficiário: Felipe Pedrosa Chagas
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Doutorado Direto
• Processo FAPESP: 15/18381-6 - Revertendo a defaunação ou agravando a degradação ecológica? Ecologia da invasão dos suídeos asselvajados Sus scrofa em paisagens defaunadas
• Beneficiário: Felipe Pedrosa Chagas
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado Direto
• Processo FAPESP: 15/22844-1 - Dieta do javaporco Sus scrofa na região de Rio Claro, São Paulo
• Beneficiário: William Bercê da Silva
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica
• Processo FAPESP: 17/12925-0 - Distribuição do javali europeu no Parque Nacional Nahue Huapi
• Beneficiário: William Bercê da Silva
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Iniciação Científica
• Processo FAPESP: 14/50434-0 - Testando os serviços ecossistêmicos de frutos e frugívoros invasores
• Beneficiário: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Regular