Artificial feeding

Artificial feeding – consequences for agriculture and local ecosystems

This is to prolong and finish an ongoing project. We ask for an additional two year funding. Wild boar is one of the most controversial ungulates in terms of negative effects on crop production and biodiversity. Supplementary feeding has become a common management practice not only for wild boar but for many ungulate species. Feeding is normally associated with maintaining or increasing densities of wildlife, through: (i) maintaining or increasing body weights and condition overwinter; (ii) improving reproductive performance and fertility; (iii) increasing overwinter survival; and (iv) reducing levels of damage caused to agriculture and forestry. Unfortunately, very few scientific evidences support any of these four statements, by no means saying that they are false, just that they have not been properly tested. The aims of this project are to: Identify spatial factors affecting habitat use of wild boar, roe deer and fallow deer. Where and how far do animals move in relation to focal feedings sites, depending on feeding regime, habitat and landscape structure? By GPS-collared animals we describe habitat and crop selection at different seasons, ecological settings and in relation to artificial feeding sites in six study areas. During a prolonged project time we finalize ongoing experiments by: (1) quantify the diversionary effect of feeding sites on spatial behavior i.e. do feeding sites redirect animals from sensitive habitats. This is investigated by manipulating the amount of forage presented on feeding sites, from zero to ad lib, (2) quantify the supplementary effect of artificial feeding on reproduction i.e. do supplementary food substitute natural food or is it additive and thus improving reproduction, (3) test the effect of establishing feeding sites in “novel” areas and (4) test indirect and additive effect of supplementary feeding stations on local rodent, bird, mesopredator and plant communities. The project is a part of an ongoing PhD-project.

Petter Kjellander, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

879 000 SEK