Pages: 11-20

Abstract

The elimination of the trees and bushes causes disturbed patches in the forest ‎landscapes and this can be effective on the fauna and flora. The present study deals ‎with the activity pattern and visitation frequency of wild boars in disturbed patches of ‎Deylaman - Dorfak non-hunting area. To do so, four disturbed patches and four closed-‎canopy forest environment (as the control patches) were selected and seven plots ‎featuring 100-square-meter dimensions were taken into account and pellet groups were ‎counted. Also, two camera traps were installed in every pair of patches (one disturbed ‎patch and one control patch) and monitoring was carried out for five days. The results ‎indicated that the wild boars attended the disturbed patches more than the control patch ‎and the reason for such a preferential presence can be the food resources availability ‎therein. On the other hand, the species activity was more of a nightly manner in the ‎disturbed patches and it seems that this prevalent nightly activity is more due to one or ‎several of the following factors: shortage of shelter, human interference, competition ‎and predator - prey interactions. Therefore, the higher visitation frequency of the wild ‎boars indicates the positive effect of the disturbed patches on this ungulate and their ‎prevalently nocturnal activity pattern is (possibly) reflective of their negative effects. ‎Moreover, the present study results support the creation of these disturbed patches if ‎the forest managers especially concentrated on the protection of these patches as the ‎important habitats of the ungulates. However, it is suggested that a proper ‎understanding of the effects of these patches on the other species should be attained ‎before offering any sort of management solution because unidimensional approaches in ‎consideration of only one species and even one order can be misleading for the ‎conservation of biodiversity in landscape-level‎‎.