Demonstration site: tropical rainforests, Queensland
Project Leader: Prof Iain Gordon, CSIRO
Aim: To assess the impacts of feral pigs on the conservation value of the Wet Tropics Natural Heritage Area (WTNHA) and develop acceptable means of enhancing pig control in the WTWHA
Project: 10.u.6 and IA CRC-supported PhD students Amanda Elledge, Andrew Bengsen, Carla Meurk, Kana Koichi
Project summary
The rainforests of Queensland’s Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) support a disproportionately large component of Australia’s biodiversity, including numerous endangered plant and animal species. The WTWHA is also a major tourist drawcard; and rainforest-related tourism is worth several hundred million dollars annually.
Feral pigs are regarded as one of the most important vertebrate pests of the WTWHA. They have substantial impacts on a range of important environmental, economic, human health and social values in the WTWHA. Frequently cited environmental impacts include: predation of native plant and animal species, disruption of trophic webs, weed and pathogen transmission, and erosion and water quality deterioration.
Economic impacts are largely incurred by primary producers and include damage to produce and infrastructure, lost production potential, and the cost of control. The successful introduction of a serious exotic veterinary disease, such as foot and mouth disease, to the local feral pig population would be an economic catastrophe. Feral pigs may also serve as amplifiers and vectors for important human diseases such as Japanese Encephalitis and leptospirosis.
Feral pigs are currently widespread in the WTWHA. Methods currently used to mitigate the impacts of feral pigs in Australia are largely based on reducing pig abundance by increasing mortality, primarily through trapping, hunting and shooting. Poison baiting though is generally regarded as the most effective and efficient method of producing the population reduction required to significantly reduce the impacts of pigs on the environment. However, trapping remains the preferred pig control method within the WTWHA due to the potential for poison baiting programs to impact non-target species, particularly species of conservation significance such as the Cassowary and Northern Quoll. Trapping alone is unlikely to provide the level of population control required to prevent rapid recovery to pre-control levels.
This project aims to:
- increase the understanding of the ecological impacts of feral pigs in rainforest ecosystems
- assess different methods for baiting pigs that minimise the impacts on native species in the wet tropics
- investigate novel frameworks for cooperative management of pigs in the wet tropics
- determine the socio-economic and ecological costs and benefits of pig control in the wet tropics.
Outputs include:
- three PhD theses, one Honours thesis and an MSc thesis
- nine scientific publications
- a cooperative baiting program for pigs implemented in the wet tropics based on minimising non-target species impacts and cost/benefit analysis.
Key achievements
- One honours thesis completed.
- Field work by all three PhD students completed and their results are being analysed and written up.
- Participated in trialling PIGOUT® and the Boar Buffet® in the Daintree.
Key deliverables
- Completion of three PhD theses and 1 MSc thesis.
- Submission of research publications by all PhD students.
- Socio-economics stakeholder interviews/workshops.
Project team
Prof Iain Gordon (CSIRO), Dr Luke Leung, Dr Wolfram Dressler, Andrew Bengsen, Amanda Elledge, Carla Meurk, Clive McAlpine (UQ), Kana Koichi and Kamaljit Kaur (JCU).
Project partners
IA CRC, CSIRO, University of Queensland, James Cook University, Animal Control Technologies Australia.
Further information
Bengsen, A., Leung, L.K., Lapidge, S.J. and Gordon, I.J. (2010). Artificial illumination reduces bait-take by small rainforest mammals. Applied Animal Behviour Science, 127(1). 66-72.
Bengsen, A. J., L. K.-P. Leung, S. J. Lapidge, and I. J. Gordon. 2008. The development of target-specific vertebrate pest management tools for complex faunal communities. Ecological Management and Restoration,9(3). 209-216.
