Ecology
- Nature
- 541,
- 136
- doi:10.1038/541136c
- Published online
Subject terms:
Eurasian wild pigs transmit disease and destroy crops in the
United States, and are expected to spread throughout the country in the
coming decades.
The invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa; pictured) compete with the country's native wildlife and cost the agricultural industry more than US$1.5
billion a year. To predict their future spread, Nathan Snow, now at the
USDA National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado, and
his colleagues modelled the distribution of wild pigs in the continental
United States from 1982 to 2012. The authors found that, during this
period, the pigs' rate of northward range expansion accelerated from 6.5
kilometres to 12.6 kilometres per year. If this trend persists, wild
pigs are predicted to reach most counties in 30–50 years.
A warming climate may aid the northerly spread of the animals, the authors say, adding that reducing the transport of wild pigs — both accidentally and for sport — will be important in limiting the invasion.
J. Appl. Ecol. http://doi.org/bwsp (2016)
Getty
A warming climate may aid the northerly spread of the animals, the authors say, adding that reducing the transport of wild pigs — both accidentally and for sport — will be important in limiting the invasion.
J. Appl. Ecol. http://doi.org/bwsp (2016)
