Effectiveness of signs of activity as relative abundance indices for wild boar

Population growth in wild boars and feral pigs (Sus scrofa) has negative environmental and economic implications worldwide. Accordingly, it is necessary to monitor population trends for appropriate management. Despite the potential for bias, relative abundance indices based on signs of activity have the potential to be practical, low-cost monitoring tools for data collection at a local scale and over large areas. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of specific signs as measures of relative wild boar abundance in comparison with reliable density estimates. In this study, we examined whether three activity signs (digging marks, rubbing marks, and fecal pellet groups) could be used as relative abundance indices for wild boar. In particular, we conducted transect surveys for signs of activity as well as camera trap surveys from September 2017 to January 2018 at six sites in Hyogo Prefecture and eight sites in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. We modeled the relations between the num...野生野猪与家猪（Sus scrofa）的种群增长在全球范围内均会对生态环境与经济发展产生负面影响。因此，为实现科学合理的种群管理，对其种群趋势开展监测具有重要必要性。尽管基于活动痕迹的相对丰度指数存在引入偏差的潜在风险，但该类指标仍有望成为适用于局地及大范围数据采集的实用、低成本监测工具。然而，目前鲜有研究将特定活动痕迹作为野猪相对丰度的衡量指标，并与可靠的种群密度估算结果进行对比以验证其有效性。本研究旨在探究三种活动痕迹——翻土痕迹、蹭痕以及粪团群——是否可作为野猪的相对丰度指数。具体而言，我们于2017年9月至2018年1月期间，在日本兵库县的6个调查点与千叶县的8个调查点同步开展了活动痕迹样线调查与红外相机陷阱调查。我们针对相关变量间的关系构建了模型。