Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Invasive feral pigs impact native tree ferns and woody seedlings in Hawaiian forest

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biological Invasions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Invasive mammals can fundamentally alter native plant communities, especially on isolated islands where plants evolved without them. The globally invasive feral pig (Sus scrofa) can be particularly destructive to native plant communities. Tree ferns are an important understory component in many forests facilitating the establishment of a variety of species. However, the extent and effects of feral pig damage to tree ferns, and associated impacts on plant community regeneration, are largely unknown. We quantified the effect that feral pig damage has on tree fern growth, survival, and epiphytic woody seedling abundance over 1 year on 438 randomly selected tree ferns of three endemic species (Cibotium chamissoi, Cibotium glaucum, and Cibotium menziesii) in a Hawaiian montane wet forest with high tree fern and feral pig densities. Across all tree fern species, feral pigs damaged 13 % of individuals over 1 year. Compared with undamaged tree ferns, moderately- to heavily-damaged individuals had decreases of 4 to 27 % in trunk length increment and lost tenfold more fronds. Tree fern angle (standing, leaning, prone, or semi-prone) and woody seedling abundance co-varied with feral pig damage. Specifically, damaged tree ferns were more often prone or semi-prone and supported more seedlings, but also had annual mortality up to 34 % higher than undamaged tree ferns. Overall, feral pig damage had substantial negative effects on tree ferns by reducing growth and survival. Given the importance of tree ferns as regeneration sites for a variety of native plants, feral pig damage to tree ferns will likely alter future forest composition and structure. Specifically, feral pig damage to tree ferns reduces potential establishment sites for species that either regenerate preferentially as epiphytes or are currently restricted to epiphytic establishment due to ground rooting by feral pigs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Tropicos org Missouri Botanical Garden (2013) http://www.tropicos.org/. Accessed Feb 13, 2013

  • Agresti A, Wackerly D (1977) Some exact conditional tests of independence for R × C cross-classification tables. Psychometrika 42(1):111–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson SJ, Stone CP (1993) Snaring to control feral pigs (Sus scrofa) in a remote Hawaiian rain forest. Biol Conserv 63(3):195–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arcand N, Kagawa AK, Sack L, Giambelluca TW (2008) Scaling of frond form in Hawaiian tree fern Cibotium glaucum: compliance with global trends and application for field estimation. Biotropica 40(6):686–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker JK (1979) The feral pig in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In: Proceedings of the first conference on Scientific Research in the National Parks, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, pp 365–367

  • Barrios-Garcia M, Ballari S (2012) Impact of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in its introduced and native range: a review. Biol Invasions 14:2283–2300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellingham P, Richardson S (2006) Tree seedling growth and survival over 6 years across different micro sites in a temperate rain forest. Can J For Res 36(4):910–918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buck MG (1982) Hawaiian treefern harvesting affects forest regeneration and plant succession. Research Note. USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Berkeley, CA, USA

  • Byers CR, Steinhorst RK, Krausman PR (1984) Clarification of a technique for analysis of utilization-availability data. J Wildl Manag 48(3):1050–1053

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell TA, Long DB (2009) Feral swine damage and damage management in forested ecosystems. For Ecol Manag 257(12):2319–2326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cole RJ, Litton CM, Koontz MJ, Loh RK (2012) Vegetation recovery 16 years after feral pig removal from a wet Hawaiian forest. Biotropica 44(1):463–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coomes DA, Allen RB, Forsyth DM, Lee WG (2003) Factors preventing the recovery of New Zealand forests following control of invasive deer. Conserv Biol 17(2):450–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drake DR, Mueller-Dombois D (1993) Population development of rain-forest trees on a chrono sequence of Hawaiian lava flows. Ecology 74(4):1012–1019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durand LZ, Goldstein G (2001) Growth, leaf characteristics, and spore production in native and invasive tree ferns in Hawaii. Am Fern J 91(1):25–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher RA (1922) On the interpretation of χ2 from contingency tables, and the calculation of P. J R Stat Soc 85(1):87–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Friday JB, Scowcroft PG, Ares A (2008) Responses of native and invasive plant species to selective logging in an Acacia koa-Metrosideros polymorpha forest in Hawai’i. Appl Veg Sci 11(4):471–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaxiola A, Burrows LE, Coomes DA (2008) Tree fern trunks facilitate seedling regeneration in a productive lowland temperate rain forest. Oecologia 155(2):325–335

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Giambelluca TW, Chen Q, Frazier AG, Price JP, Chen YL, Chu PS, Eischeid JK, Delparte DM (2013) Online rainfall Atlas of Hawai’i. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 94:313–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giffin J (1978) Ecology of the feral pig on the island of Hawaii. Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Game, State of Hawaii

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinken T, Schmidt M, Von Oheimb G, Kriebitzsch WU, Ellenberg H (2006) Soil seed banks near rubbing trees indicate dispersal of plant species into forests by wild boar. Basic Appl Ecol 7(1):31–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess SC, Jeffrey J, Ball DL, Babich L, Unit HCS (2006) Efficacy of feral pig removals at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. Trans West Sect Wildl Soc 42:53–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Holdridge LR (1947) Determination of world plant formations from simple climate data. Science 105:367–368

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hone J (2002) Feral pigs in Namadgi National Park, Australia: dynamics, impacts and management. Biol Conserv 105(2):231–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ickes K, Paciorek CJ, Thomas SC (2005) Impacts of nest construction by native pigs (Sus scrofa) on lowland Malaysian rain forest saplings. Ecology 86(6):1540–1547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inman-Narahari F, Ostertag R, Cordell S, Giardina CP, Nelson-Kaula K, Sack L (2013) Seedling recruitment factors in low-diversity Hawaiian wet forest: towards global comparisons among tropical forests. Ecosphere 4 (2):art24

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwashita DK (2012) Role of coarse woody debris in carbon storage and seedling distribution in Hawaiian montane wet forests. M.S. Thesis, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

  • Kellner JR, Asner GP (2009) Convergent structural responses of tropical forests to diverse disturbance regimes. Ecol Lett 12(9):9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire LA (2004) What can decision analysis do for invasive species management? Risk Anal 24(4):859–868

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer JJ, Nelson EA, Wike LD (2000) Selective depredation of planted hardwood seedlings by wild pigs in a wetland restoration area. Ecol Eng 15:S79–S85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nogueira-Filho S, Nogueira S, Fragoso J (2009) Ecological impacts of feral pigs in the Hawaiian Islands. Biodivers Conserv 18(14):3677–3683

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nuñez MA, Bailey JK, Schweitzer JA (2010) Population, community and ecosystem effects of exotic herbivores: a growing global concern. Biol Invasions 12(2):297–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien P (1987) Socio-economic and biological impact of the feral pig in New South Wales: an overview and alternative management plan. Rangel J 9(2):96–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ott RL, Longnecker M (2001) An introduction to statistical methods and data analysis, 5th edn. Duxbury Pacific Grove, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimentel D, Lach L, Zuniga R, Morrison D (2000) Environmental and economic costs of nonindigenous species in the United States. Bioscience 50(1):53–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scowcroft P (1992) Role of decaying logs and other organic seedbeds in natural regeneration of Hawaiian forest species on abandoned montane pasture. Gen Tech Rep PSW-129. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany, California, USA

  • Spear D, Chown SL (2009) Non-indigenous ungulates as a threat to biodiversity. J Zool 279(1):1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2012) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org

  • Thomson C, Challies C (1988) Diet of feral pigs in the podocarp-tawa forests of the Urewera ranges. N Z Journal of Ecol 11:73–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM (1990) Biological invasions and ecosystem processes: towards an integration of population biology and ecosystem studies. Oikos 57(1):7–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker LR, Aplet GH (1994) Growth and fertilization responses of Hawaiian tree ferns. Biotropica 26(4):378–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weller SG, Cabin RJ, Lorence DH, Perlman S, Wood K, Flynn T, Sakai AK (2011) Alien plant invasions, introduced ungulates, and alternative states in a mesic forest in Hawai’i. Restor Ecol 19(5):671–680

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Sciences (PIPES), especially Sharon Ziegler-Chong, Moana Ulu Ching, and Noelani Puniwai for their educational tools and support, and their partner agencies including the Kamehameha Schools ‘Aina Ulu Program, the National Science Foundation, the USFWS, and the USDA Forest Service IPIF. We thank the USDA Forest Service and State of Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources—Division of Forestry and Wildlife for access to the Hawai’i Experimental Tropical Forest. We thank Shane Hiraoka and Heather Franklin for field assistance, along with numerous interns and staff that helped to establish the Laupāhoehoe HIPPNET plot. Financial support was provided by National Science Foundation-EPSCoR (Grant No. 0554657 to J. Gaines), and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa via the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch (HAW00132-H to C.M. Litton) and Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture Research (2009-34135-20101 to C.M. Litton) Programs. We thank two anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments on previous versions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, 200 W. Kawili Street, Hilo, HI, 96720, USA

    Molly J. Murphy & Rebecca Ostertag

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1606, USA

    Faith Inman-Narahari

  3. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 1910 East–West Road, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Creighton M. Litton

Authors
  1. Molly J. Murphy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Faith Inman-Narahari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rebecca Ostertag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Creighton M. Litton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Molly J. Murphy.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 25 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Murphy, M.J., Inman-Narahari, F., Ostertag, R. et al. Invasive feral pigs impact native tree ferns and woody seedlings in Hawaiian forest. Biol Invasions 16, 63–71 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0503-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0503-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation