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Updated: Apr 16, 2026
08:09
Measuring and Mapping Patterns of Soil Erosion and Deposition Related to Soil Carbonate Concentrations Under Agricultural Management
Published on: September 12, 2017
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Does introduced fauna influence soil erosion? A field and modelling assessment
G R Hancock1, J B C Lowry2, C Dever1
1School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia.
The Science of the Total Environment
|March 11, 2015
Summary
Feral pigs disturb soil in northern Australia, but this disturbance may not increase erosion in undisturbed areas. Long-term impacts and effects in post-mining landscapes require further investigation.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Soil Science
Background:
- Feral pigs (Sus scrofa) significantly impact ecosystems globally, particularly in Australia.
- Quantifying the ecological consequences of feral pig disturbance is challenging due to long-term effects and limited data.
- Understanding these impacts is crucial for effective land management in affected regions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the extent and impact of feral pig disturbance in a monsoonal tropical catchment in northern Australia.
- To assess the effect of feral pig disturbance on catchment-scale erosion rates using a numerical model.
- To investigate whether feral pig activity enhances or reduces soil erosion in different landscape contexts.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a three-year field study to measure the areal extent and soil exhumation rates of pig disturbance.
- Utilized a numerical landscape evolution and soil erosion model to simulate disturbance impacts.
- Compared erosion rates in simulated undisturbed areas with and without pig disturbance.
Main Results:
- Feral pig disturbance affected 0.3-3.3% of the survey area annually, exhuming 4.3-36.0 t ha(-1) yr(-1) of material.
- Simulated pig disturbance in undisturbed areas resulted in lower erosion rates compared to non-disturbed areas.
- Increased surface roughness and sediment trapping due to pig activity were identified as key factors.
Conclusions:
- In the studied undisturbed monsoonal tropical environment, feral pig disturbance does not appear to enhance erosion.
- However, the long-term ecological consequences of soil disturbance by pigs remain uncertain.
- Pig disturbance may increase erosion in post-mining landscapes, highlighting the importance of landscape context.
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