Veterinary Parasitology 196 (2013) 114–123 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Veterinary Parasitology jou rn al h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/vetpar Supplemental feeding drives endoparasite infection in wild boar in Western Spain Nora Navarro-Gonzalez a , Pedro Fernández-Llario b , Juan Enrique Pérez-Martín c , Gregorio Mentaberre a , José M. López-Martín a,d , Santiago Lavín a , Emmanuel Serrano a,e,∗ a Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain b Red de Grupos de Recursos Faunísticos, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain c Parasitología, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain d Àrea d’Activitats Cinegètiques, Direcció General del Medi Natural y Biodiversitat, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain e Estadística i Investigació Operativa, Departament de Matemàtica, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 8 October 2012 Received in revised form 6 February 2013 Accepted 14 February 2013 Keywords: Density dependence Feeders Game management Host–parasite relationships Parasite aggregation Sus scrofa a b s t r a c t Wildlife population management is thought to destabilize existing host–parasite equili- briums in opposing directions, that is, it may increase parasite success or host resilience once infection takes place. This process is of special importance for species such as the wild boar (Sus scrofa) that are managed for game purposes throughout much of Europe. However, little is known about how this practices influcences either gastrointestinal or pulmonary parasitism in the wild boar. Twelve hunting estates were chosen in order to study the relationship of management measures (feeder density, wild boar abundance, the ratio of wild boar per feeder and the percentage of sclerophyllous vegetation) and host factors (age and sex) with gastrointestinal and pulmonary parasite aggregation, richness, infection probability and intensity of infection. Parasitological analyses from 300 wild boar gastrointestinal and 269 respiratory tracts were performed for this purpose. A set of gen- eral linear models with combinations of the explanatory variables was built and the model with the smallest Akaike Information Criterion was selected as the best. The feeder density increased gastrointestinal parasite traits (richness, infection probability and intensity of infection), probably due to the contamination of feeding sites with infective parasite forms. Pulmonary parasite traits, on the other hand, were only influenced by host sex and age class, and parasite aggregation was as expected for a wild population. Managers should be aware of the consequences on parasitism when implementing supplemental feeding in hunting estates. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Game management is a widespread practice involv- ing measures such as supplemental feeding, fencing ∗ Corresponding author at: Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bel- laterra, Barcelona, Spain. Tel.: +34 935868190; fax: +34 935812006. E-mail address: emmanuel.serrano@uab.cat (E. Serrano). and translocation, and may play a role in maintaining pathogens in wild populations (Gortázar et al., 2006). For example, in east Africa the fencing of reserves for recre- ational hunting has been related to an increment in both nematode richness and prevalence in the impala (Aepyceros melampus, see Ezenwa, 2004a). In addition, supplemen- tal feeding during winter favours the aggregation of elks (Cervus elaphus) in Greater Yellowstone, thereby increas- ing their exposure to gastrointestinal nematodes (Hines et al., 2007). However, other factors should be taken into 0304-4017/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2013.02.019