Date of Award
12-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Forestry and Environmental Conservation
Committee Chair/Advisor
Greg Yarrow
Committee Member
Erin Buchholtz
Committee Member
David Jachowski
Abstract
Invasive species are a source of human conflict with wildlife on a global scale and exist to the detriment of native wildlife species. Invasive species often possess the ability to respond rapidly to change and they often exist alongside humans. Wild hogs (Sus scrofa) are perhaps one of the most infamous examples of an invasive species. The spread of wild hogs necessitates effective communication with the public being impacted by them, as well as a continuation of research to learn more about wild hog behavior to promote effective management. Chapter 1 focuses on how we created a website that is tailored to residents of South Carolina. We compared existing websites dedicated to wild hogs grouped by United States geographic regions. We found that the southeastern region of the United States had a greater emphasis on control methods used to manage wild hogs. The south also had a greater emphasis on disease than other regions. We focused on other states within the southern region to build our own website for South Carolina. Chapter 2 explains how we used spatially explicit capture-recapture models and a baited camera array to determine how timber management practices on private lands in the Piedmont region of South Carolina impact the activity of a naturally marked population of wild hogs. We used 32 trail cameras and whole kernel corn as an attractant to capture photographs of wild hogs in late July and early August of 2019 and 2020. We then analyzed the data using spatially explicit capture recapture (‘SECR’) to estimate the distribution of wild hogs. We found that the minimum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values within 100 meters of a trap and the distance a camera trap was from a paved road were the most important factors influencing detection probability. These results could indicate wild hogs avoid roads in the Piedmont region of South Carolina and may have a minimum NDVI value they are willing to tolerate. We also had a significant difference in density estimates between 2019 and 2020 with 17 individuals detected in 2019 and 53 individuals detected in 2020. We hoped to gain information about wild hogs and determine how to effectively communicate that information with the public to promote effective management based on findings from sound-scientific studies. This thesis highlights two important aspects of effective wild hog management, which will continue to be relevant as wild hogs continue to spread.
Recommended Citation
Jamison, Andrew, "On Humans, Hogs, and Habitat: How Landscape Features and Vegetation Influence Wild Hog (Sus Scrofa) Detection on Private Lands and Using Existing Wild Hog Outreach Websites to Create an Effective Website for South Carolina" (2024). All Theses. 4426.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4426
