Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) Habitat Characteristics in an Urban Forest Park Revealed Using LiDAR and Species Distribution Modeling

Background and objective: Urban forest parks serve as critical interfaces where intensive human use overlaps with wildlife habitats, leading to an increasing incidence human-wildlife conflicts. Wild boars (Sus scrofa) are widely recognized as ecological generalists with high adaptability across diverse landscapes; however, quantitative understanding of their habitat selection within small-scale, fragmented urban forest patches remains limited. This study aimed to identify key environmental factors influencing wild boar presence in urban forest parks by integrating LiDAR-derived three-dimensional habitat structure with species distribution modeling.Methods: Wild boar presence data were obtained using unmanned sensor cameras (camera traps) and thermal imaging drones in Ansan Urban Nature Park, Seoul. Seven environmental variables, including terrain factors and forest vertical structure variables derived from drone-based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, along with existing forest type data, were incorporated into a Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model to predict habitat suitability and assess the relative contribution of each variable.Results: Understory density was the most influential environmental factor affecting wild boar presence. Habitat suitability increased sharply once understory vegetation exceeded a threshold level and reached its peak in areas characterized by moderate elevation and steep slopes. The habitat suitability map revealed continuous, , band-shaped zones of high suitability along ridges and slopes, indicating spatially structured habitat use along topographic axes. The model showed reliable predictive performance, with an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.765. While these results partially align with previous findings on wild boar habitat preferences, the incorporation of three-dimensional forest structure showed that habitat selection is more strongly associated with vertical vegetation characteristics that provide concealment, rather than with topographic features alone.Conclusion: Wild boar habitat selection in urban forest parks is primarily driven by three-dimensional vegetation structure that enhances concealment, rather than by topographic preference alone. These findings demonstrate that LiDAR-based habitat modeling provides a valuable foundation for spatially targeted management strategies, enabling the efficient allocation of monitoring resources and the development of mitigation measures that balance public safety with wildlife coexistence in urban forest landscapes.