Ecology, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Rodents in the United States

Witmer, Gary W.; Shiels, Aaron B.

doi:10.1201/9781315157078-10

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 112 publications

(165 reference statements)

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“…Rodents have been extensively documented to carry and transmit different zoonotic pathogens, including S. aureus, to humans and livestock [3,13,14]. Commensal rodents colonized with pathogens have been widely reported to invade chicken [15,16] and human houses [17][18][19], exposing them to bacterial infections. Different studies in Tanzania have documented the interaction of rodents with humans in households, predisposing them to rodent-borne zoonotic diseases [20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occurrence of Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among Humans, Rodents, Chickens, and Household Soils in Karatu, Northern Tanzania

Sonola¹,

Misinzo

Matee

2021

IJERPH

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We conducted this study to investigate the isolation frequency and phenotypic antibiotic resistance pattern of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from rodents, chickens, humans, and household soils. Specimens were plated onto mannitol salt agar (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) and incubated aerobically at 37 °C for 24 h. Presumptive colonies of S. aureus were subjected to Gram staining, as well as catalase, deoxyribonuclease (DNAse), and coagulase tests for identification. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by using the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method on Mueller–Hinton agar (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK). The antibiotics tested were tetracycline (30 μg), erythromycin (15 μg), gentamicin (10 μg), ciprofloxacin (5 μg), clindamycin (2 μg), and amoxicillin-clavulanate (20 μg/10 μg). The S. aureus strain American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 25,923 was used as the standard organism. We found that 483 out of 956 (50.2%) samples were positive for S. aureus. The isolation frequencies varied significantly between samples sources, being 52.1%, 66.5%, 74.3%, and 24.5%, respectively, in chickens, humans, rodents, and soil samples (p < 0.001). S. aureus isolates had high resistance against clindamycin (51.0%), erythromycin (50.9%), and tetracycline (62.5%). The overall prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) S. aureus isolates was 30.2%, with 8.7% resistant to at least four different classes of antibiotics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occurrence of Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among Humans, Rodents, Chickens, and Household Soils in Karatu, Northern Tanzania

Sonola¹,

Misinzo

Matee

2021

IJERPH

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“…In such yards, integrated pest control approaches other than rodenticides, e.g. habitat and harborage reduction, 32,47 should be attempted first to minimize risk to nontarget wildlife species. Other possible options would be to place rodenticides indoors (garages, outbuildings) where only rats are likely to find them, 25 although this will not prevent rats from dying outside and away from buildings, 43 or for homeowners bordering natural areas to consider enclosing their yards with solid walls or fencing to restrict access to wildlife.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of rodenticide bait stations by commensal rodents at the urban–wildland interface: Insights for management to reduce nontarget exposure

Burke

Quinn

Stapp

2021

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUND: Pest management professionals use anticoagulant rodenticides, usually placed in tamper-resistant bait stations, to control commensal rodents, but significant concerns remain about exposure of nontarget species, especially at the urban-wildland interface. We deployed digital cameras to monitor use of bait stations placed in 90 residential yards across Orange County, California, USA. Two bait stations, supplied with nontoxic bait, were monitored in each yard for approximately 30 consecutive days during two camera-trapping sessions between December 2017 and March 2019. One station was placed on the ground, while the other was elevated 1-1.5 m to determine if elevating stations could reduce nontarget exposure. RESULTS: Black rats (Rattus rattus L.) were present at 80% of sites, with mean activity ranging from 0 to 9.6 h each night. There were no significant differences between elevated and ground stations in the time to discovery, time to bait station entry, or nightly activity of rats. Rats discovered bait stations more quickly, and mean nightly activity was greater, in yards where rats were detected more frequently. Although native rodents visited and entered bait stations occasionally, they were relatively rare among our sites (13.3%), and were detected five times less often at elevated stations compared to those on the ground. Yards visited by these rodents were significantly nearer to areas of green open space and natural vegetation, and tended to have no significant barriers to entry, e.g. solid fences or walls. CONCLUSIONS: By elevating bait stations and avoiding placing rodenticides in yards that are likely to be visited by wildlife, pest management professionals may be able to reduce the risk of nontarget exposure, including secondary poisoning of predators and scavengers, while still providing effective control of commensal pests.

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“…Introduced rats (Rattus spp.) can pose a serious threat to native flora and fauna species, especially on islands where most species have evolved in the absence of terrestrial predators (Brown 1997;Witmer and Shiels 2018). Once rats become established in island ecosystems, they often multiply quickly because they usually have few, if any, predators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time allocation to resources by three species of rats (Rattus spp.) in a radial arm maze

2020

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ContextIntroduced rats (Rattus spp.) can pose a serious threat to native flora and fauna, especially on islands where most species have evolved in the absence of terrestrial predators. Effective detection and eradication methods for introduced rats are essential to the maintenance of insular ecosystem integrity. Thus, it is important to better understand the behaviour of rats when they first arrive in a new setting. AimsTo determine whether rats would find some novel stimuli to be significantly more attractive than other novel stimuli. MethodsAn eight-arm radial maze was used to study the behaviour of three species of Rattus finding themselves in a novel environment with various familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. Key resultsAlthough there were some differences in responses by species and by sex, most rats sought out and spent considerable time in the den box, suggesting an immediate need for security when in an unfamiliar setting. Rats also sought out faeces of conspecifics, suggesting the need for social contact or reproduction. The rats, which had not been food deprived, did not seem interested in food sources, although there was some attraction to the water source. ImplicationsThe management implications of the present study’s results are two-fold. First, appears that detection of newly arriving rats on islands would be aided by strategic placement of den boxes that are highly acceptable to rats. Managers could then inspect the den boxes periodically (or use a remote sensing system) for evidence of rat presence. Second, the den boxes could be scented with the faeces of other rats to further attract invading rats to the den boxes. This protocol might also hold the rats near the invasion site for a longer period of time before they begin seeking other shelter, food sources or mates. These protocols could give managers increased opportunities to detect any newly invading rats, and potentially increase the available time to deploy a rapid response to the invasion, before the animals begin to widely disperse. Of course, the rats will ultimately seek a source of palatable food, so placing durable, yet palatable, rodenticide bait in the den boxes might further decrease the probability of the invaders establishing a self-sustaining population.

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Ecology, Impacts, and Management of Invasive Rodents in the United States

Cited by 16 publications

References 112 publications

Occurrence of Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among Humans, Rodents, Chickens, and Household Soils in Karatu, Northern Tanzania

Occurrence of Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among Humans, Rodents, Chickens, and Household Soils in Karatu, Northern Tanzania

Use of rodenticide bait stations by commensal rodents at the urban–wildland interface: Insights for management to reduce nontarget exposure

Time allocation to resources by three species of rats (Rattus spp.) in a radial arm maze

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