Abstract

The population dynamics of wild boar (Sus scrofa) was studied in a time series over 26 years using data from the Regional Hunting Reserve of Somiedo (northern Spain). This population is controlled by a complex negative feedback system that acts with one (main) and two (secondary) years of delay (lags). The primary feedback might be explained by intraspecific competition for food resulting from fluctuations in mast production (acorns and beech), and the secondary feedback might be explained by the influence of weather conditions or the delay of a cohort to reach reproductive status. We used a stochastic model that takes environmental variability into consideration when testing the demographical analysis that’s obtains simulations from real data.

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