SREL Reprint #3354

Contact heterogeneities in feral swine: implications for disease management and future research

Kim M. Pepin1, Amy J. Davis1, James Beasley2, Raoul Boughton3, Tyler Campbell4, Susan M. Cooper5,
Wes Gaston6, Steve Hartley7, John C. Kilgo8, Samantha M. Wisely9, Christy Wyckoff10,11,
and Kurt C. VerCauteren1

1National Wildlife Research Center, United States Department of Agriculture,
4101 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526 USA
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources,
University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802 USA
3Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Range Cattle Research and Education Center,
University of Florida, 3401 Experiment Station, Ona, Florida 33865 USA
4East Foundation, 200 Concord Plaza Drive, Suite 410, San Antonio, Texas 78216 USA
5Texas A&M AgriLife Research, 1619 Garner Field Road, Uvalde, Texas 78801 USA
6USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services, 602 Duncan Drive, Auburn, Alabama 36849 USA
7United States Geological Survey, National Wetlands Research Center,
700 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, Louisiana 70506 USA
8Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 700, New Ellenton, South Carolina 29809 USA
9Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA
10Santa Lucia Conservancy, 26700 Rancho San Carlos Road, Carmel, California 93923 USA
11Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Kingsville,
955 University Boulevard, Kingsville, Texas 78363 USA

Abstract: Contact rates vary widely among individuals in socially structured wildlife populations. Understanding the interplay of factors responsible for this variation is essential for planning effective disease management. Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are a socially structured species which pose an increasing threat to livestock and human health, and little is known about contact structure. We analyzed 11 GPS data sets from across the United States to understand the interplay of ecological and demographic factors on variation in co-location rates, a proxy for contact rates. Between-sounder contact rates strongly depended on the distance among home ranges (less contact among sounders separated by >2 km; negligible between sounders separated by >6 km), but other factors causing high clustering between groups of sounders also seemed apparent. Our results provide spatial parameters for targeted management actions, identify data gaps that could lead to improved management and provide insight on experimental design for quantitating contact rates and structure.

Keywords: contact; disease transmission; feral swine; GPS; meta-analysis; network; social structure; Sus scrofa

SREL Reprint #3354

Pepin, K. M., A. J. Davis, J. C. Beasley, R. Boughton, T. Campbell, S. M. Cooper, W. Gaston, S. Hartley, J. C. Kilgo, S. M. Wisely, C. Wyckoff, and K. C. VerCauteren. 2016. Contact heterogeneities in feral swine: implications for disease management and future research. Ecosphere 7(3): e01230.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).