Introduced wild boar can reduce Appalachian herb cover below five percent of expected value

Evidence

Additional constraints on the ability of herbs to respond to a gap may be the removal or destruction of plant biomass caused by selective herbivory or trampling. In the southern Appalachians, introduced wild boar can reduce herb cover to < 5 % of the expected value, with a shift in plant population structure toward smaller, nonflowering individuals (Bratton, 1974, 1975). — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1472

Categorization

• XREF: Introduces a human-invasion disturbance agent that modulates gap response - relevant to both the environmental-justice and disturbance-history threads of the polyad. — connects to: Livestock overgrazing can silently convert vast rangeland to a new weed — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 548; Severe disturbance plus low resource base can reduce species richness — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2259

Broader Connections

• Severe disturbance plus low resource base can reduce species richness #exemplifies (0.78) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2259