Dispersal of freshwater invertebrates by large terrestrial mammals: a case study with wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Mediterranean wetlands

1. Many invertebrates inhabiting insular aquatic habitats rely on external agents or vectors to disperse. Besides water connections and wind, waterfowl and amphibians are known to mediate passive dispersal of freshwater invertebrates. However, the possibility of dispersal by terrestrial mammals has been largely overlooked. 2. We investigated the potential of both external and internal zoochorous dispersal of aquatic invertebrates by the wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Mediterranean wetlands in the Camargue (France). As wild boar frequently visit wetlands for feeding and wallowing purposes, we hypothesized that they may be important passive dispersal vectors of aquatic invertebrates at a local scale. Dried mud was collected from selected ‘rubbing trees’ used by boars to dispose of parasites. Additionally, faecal pellets were collected from different locations in the wetland area. 3. Seventeen freshwater invertebrate taxa including rotifers, cladocerans, copepods and ostracods hatched from sediment obtained from ‘rubbing trees’, while invertebrates hatching from dried faeces (10 taxa) were mainly rotifers. Dispersing invertebrates were collected up to 318 m from a nearest potential dispersal source. Both abundance and richness of invertebrates significantly decreased with dispersal distance. 4. Our results demonstrate that large mammals such as wild boar can act as dispersal vectors of aquatic invertebrates at a local scale in the wetland area of the Camargue and suggest that external transport may be quantitatively more important than internal transport. As wallowing (mud bathing) is common in many terrestrial mammals, this mode of dispersal may be quite widespread.