Selection of the Rubbing Trees by Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) and its Ecological Role in a Mixed Forest, Korea
혼효림에서의 멧돼지(Sus scrofa) 비빔목 선택과 생태적 역할

Seong-Min Lee, Woo-Shin Lee
2014 Journal of Korean Forest Society  
Conflicts between humans and wild boars (Sus scrofa) have increased because of causing crop damage and appearing in downtown. Management to reduce population size has mostly been implemented on pests, but knowledges about ecological values are very rare. Rubbing trees by wild boar was investigated to figure out characteristics and for management ecologically from July to October 2013 in a mixed forest, Geochang, Gyeongnam Province, Korea. Pinus rigida was most frequently founded, and rubbing
more » ... es, both conifers and deciduous, were mainly located in 200~600 m above sea level. DBH was no significant difference between rubbing and control trees. The use intensity of conifers was higher than that of deciduous. The coverage of foliage layers and the number of woody plants within a radius of 2.5 m of trees (rubbing and control) were also investigated and compared to determine ecological characteristics. There were 1,332 individuals founded from 25 families. In the coverage of foliage layers, the understory and midstory showed statistically significant, but not in the subover and overstory. The number of Shrubs and saplings are higher in rubbing trees than those of control, but no difference in stems. Total individuals, the number of species, species diversity index(H') within a radius 2.5 m is considerably higher in rubbing trees with high intensity than those of low intensity and control. Our results show that wild boar mainly selected and used conifers more frequently as rubbing trees. Wild boar also modified the physical environments around rubbing trees. Consequently, the positive effects such as species diversity is increase. Thus the conservation policies is required after the intensive population reduction every 3-4 years for forest ecological management rather than annual sustainable hunting.
doi:10.14578/jkfs.2014.103.3.510 fatcat:yst5oyrqcjh33ghnkjz6jvl2rm