Feral pigs (Sus scrofa L.) are common animals throughout much of California. Their grubbing activities remove vegetation and disturb soil, prompting concern that they may be harming populations of native plants and encouraging alien weeds. This project is concerned with the nature and rate of revegetation of meadows grubbed by feral pigs. Observational techniques, experimental simulations of key features of pig damage, and transplant experiments will be used to achieve the following objectives: 1. To describe the seasonality and extent of pig damage 2. To document the revegetation of areas disturbed by feral pigs 3. The describe the responses of plants to grubbing and to infer plant characteristics responsible for between- species differences 4. To identify characteristics of grubbing important to revegetation. This research will increase both our understanding of the threat posed to native plant communities by feral pigs and our knowledge of the roles that patchiness and disturbance play in plant communities.
