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Traditional Livestock Grazing Was Linked to Lower Pathogen Exposure in Wild Boar and Higher Mammal Diversity

Wild boar herd with adults and piglets in Sierra de Cazorla, Spain
Research · Ecology

A study across 18 sites on the Iberian Peninsula found that traditionally managed livestock grazing was associated with both greater wild-mammal diversity and lower indicators of pathogen exposure in wild boar (Sus scrofa). Sites with domestic ruminants had greater mammal richness and diversity, while antibody prevalence and exposure to multiple pathogens in wild boar were lower than at sites without grazing livestock. In practical terms, the livestock-present sites supported both more mammal species and a more varied mammal community.

The researchers compared mammal-community biodiversity and interactions among the study sites and used wild boar as an indicator species for pathogen exposure and indirect markers of immune-system activation. Antibodies show that an animal has been exposed to a pathogen and mounted an immune response, but do not by themselves show that it had an active infection when sampled. The study was designed to examine how traditional grazing systems relate simultaneously to biodiversity, host-community structure and circulation of generalist pathogens.

Sites without livestock showed higher pathogen exposure

At sites without grazing livestock, the researchers found what they describe as an apparent amplification effect: pathogen exposure in wild boar was higher, and the animals also showed higher indicators of immune activation. In contrast, livestock-present communities combined greater mammal diversity with lower antibody prevalence and less multiple-pathogen co-exposure in wild boar.

Traditional grazing may reshape host communities

The authors interpret the pattern as consistent with traditionally managed ruminants contributing to more balanced host communities and potentially replacing more susceptible wildlife hosts in pathogen networks. They conclude that extensive traditional grazing can influence disease dynamics together with biodiversity, rather than livestock presence necessarily being associated with greater pathogen circulation in these grassland systems.

Sources and image credit

  1. Perelló, A., Barroso, P., López-Olvera, J. R., Relimpio, D., Marín-Rojo, Á., Escobar, M., Ruiz-Fons, F., Cerón, J. J., Balseiro, A., & Gortázar, C. (2026). Biodiversity and pathogen dynamics in traditionally managed livestock systems. Journal of Environmental Management, 407, 129842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.129842Primary open-access research article listed by the publisher in volume 407 dated 1 May 2026 and licensed CC BY 4.0. The study compared mammal communities at 18 sites on the Iberian Peninsula and used wild boar as an indicator species for pathogen exposure and immune activation. Wild mammal richness and diversity were greater, while wild-boar antibody prevalence and multiple-pathogen co-exposure were lower, at sites where traditionally managed domestic ruminants were present. Sites without grazing livestock showed an apparent pathogen-amplification pattern and higher immune activation in wild boar.

Image: David Galán / Wikimedia Commons — wild boar herd with adults and piglets foraging in Sierra de Cazorla, Spain, 16 August 2013. Illustrative photograph, not study animals. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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