A balance between large-scale and small-scale disturbance is important for maintaining species diversity on landscape level. Wild boar rooting contributes to small-scale disturbance when leaving patches bare of soil. Knowledge is scarce regarding their impact on soil properties in managed spruce forests in south-west Sweden. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effects of wild boar rooting on soil physical and chemical properties, by taking soil samples from the centre, the edge and outside of disturbed patches. Rooting activities significantly increased soil moisture, organic matter, total N and pH but did not affect total P in this study. Areas with high number of disturbed patches had higher soil moisture and organic matter compared to areas with intermediate and few disturbed patches. These new soil characteristics can favour species diversity and ultimately increase productivity in managed forests. The results of this study indicate that wild boar activity contributes to more positive than negative effects in managed spruce forests and focus should therefore lie on preventing wild boar rooting in other areas more sensitive to this disturbance. It is also important to disseminate information and knowledge about the wild boar's positive and negative impact on managed forests in order to better prevent the negative effects and strengthen the positive ones.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-38905 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Petersson, Linn |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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