GPS Telemetry Knowledge Used to Observe Wild Pig Motion and Conduct
Chris attaches a GPS collar to a subadult feminine pig.
As Tall Timbers continues to associate with the Feral Swine Eradication and Management Pilot Program (FSCP), College of Georgia Grasp’s scholar Chris Terrazas (suggested by Dr. Mike Mengak) has spent the previous three months attaching GPS collars to wild pigs captured by Wildlife Companies. With help from a Pure Useful resource Conservation Service (NRCS) grant, Chris will use GPS telemetry knowledge to tell future trapping efforts and discover habitat administration methods that would mitigate wild pig inhabitants development.
Management measures for wild pigs are well-studied, however implementation is proscribed to detection locality and largely reactive. Land managers would possibly solely detect wild pigs when they’re touring previous path cameras or abandoning injury from foraging. Location knowledge can reveal the place pigs go once they aren’t foraging and what attributes, if any, pigs choose for resting cowl. Understanding fine-scale habitat use might assist managers focus trapping and habitat manipulation in areas pigs are anticipated to be, quite than the place they’ve been. We hope to make use of these knowledge to direct a extra proactive strategy to wild pig administration, particularly in areas delicate to those invasive pests.
Up to now, Chris has collected over 3,000 GPS areas on seven particular person pigs within the Purple Hills area. Utilizing these knowledge, he recognized 20 resting websites and evaluated the vegetative cowl at these websites, a few of which pigs have visited repeatedly. Chris will use fireplace frequency fashions developed by Tall Timbers to judge the influence of prescribed fireplace on wild pig motion and habits. Telemetry knowledge will even be used to review the affect of abiotic elements like climate and proximity to vital panorama options on wild pig habitat use. Knowledge evaluation will wrap up in 2023; keep tuned for particulars.
One week’s value of GPS knowledge from a collared pig within the Purple Hills area; clusters of subsequent areas point out extended use of an space and potential resting habitat.
If you want to listen to extra about this venture, please be a part of us at our upcoming Purple Hills land proprietor/supervisor workshop on April 15, 2022 at Livingston Place, the place we are going to focus on the continued feral swine management efforts throughout the Florida-Georgia FSCP. For extra details about attending, please electronic mail Kim Sash or name her at (850) 893-4153 ext. 336.
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