Land use changes are currently one of the major environmental concerns worldwide. In alpine grasslands, these changes mainly involve shifts in traditional grazing activities. Pyrenean alpine grasslands are one of the most valuable habitats in Europe, due to their bio-geographic position that involves high biodiversity rates. These grasslands are currently undergoing a gradual but profound change in pastoral use. Since the 60s, sheep herding has declined and in turn cattle herding has increased. This has led to a widespread abandonment of many grasslands, since cattle graze smaller areas than sheep. These changes in grazing regimes have recently been related to an increase in wild boar rooting affection to Pyrenean alpine grasslands. Temperate grasslands are known to support high density and biomass of earthworms. These earthworms communities are known to be a preferred food of wild boar. Investigating the effects of cattle grazing and trampling on the community of earthworms is thus a key step to determine and predict the future impact of wild boar rooting in their search for underground feeding resources. Our study aims to analyze and quantify the abundance and diversity of earthworms with respect to grazing change and the increased in the occurrence of wild boar rooting in three selected areas of the Central Pyrenees. The results will allow us determine the potential impact of wild boar rooting on vegetation structure and its relation to livestock management, and will therefore provide useful guidelines for the management of sensitive Pyrenean grasslands under soil disturbance regimes.

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