We studied the associations between small mammal assemblages and patterns of land use and landscape structure, and their seasonal variations in temperate agroecosystems. We collected barn owl, Tyto alba , pellets from nest sites located in the Pampean region included in Buenos Aires province (36 sites in winter and 29 in summer). We used Google Earth and SAC-C imagery classification to describe...

Leptospirosis is a growing public and veterinary health concern caused by pathogenic species of Leptospira. Rapid and reliable laboratory tests for the direct detection of leptospiral infections in animals are in high demand not only to improve diagnosis but also for understanding the epidemiology of the disease. In this work we describe a novel and simple TaqMan-based multi-gene targeted real-...

We examined genetic variation in black rats (the Rattus rattus complex) from Kandy District, Sri Lanka using mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb, 1140 bp) and nuclear melanocortin 1 receptor (Mc1r, 954 bp) gene sequences together with database sequences. We confirmed the existence of two divergent mitochondrial lineages in Sri Lankan black rats, with genetic distance of 2.2% and estimated divergen...

The black rat, Rattus rattus, consists of five karyotypic forms-2n = 42 (high C-banding); 2n = 42 (low C-banding); 2n = 40; 2n = 38; 2n = 42 Mauritius. Here, we use isozyme electrophoresis and microcomplement fixation to elucidate the genetic distance and phylogenetic relationship among each of the various karyotypic forms of R. rattus and R. norvegicus . The results show that (1) the 2n = 42 M...

The relative abundance of ship rats (Rattus rattus), Norway rats (R. norvegicus), and Pacific rats (R. exulans), was measured in four vegetation types on Stewart Island/Rakiura, over six consecutive seasons. Ship rats were found in all four vegetation types and dominated in podocarp-broadleaf forest and riparian shrubland. Norway rats were most common in subalpine shrubland and Pacific rats dom...

Abstract Using wire mesh live traps distribution pattern of the Rattus rattus and Mus musculus in different shops three districts Malakand region, Pakistan were recorded from September 2014 to October 2015. Over all 103 rodents (Rattus 86 17) caught during 0.04 trap success (2448 nights). Regression daily captures on cumulative revealed an estimate sampled structures with average 3.55 per shop....

Three rat species, the Norway rat, black rat or ship rat, Pacific or Polynesian rat, and the house mouse are among the most widespread and destructive invasive mammals affecting islands. Through mostly unintentional introductions by humans, these rodents occupy >80% of the major islands worldwide. As a consequence of their omnivorous diet and large incisor teeth, introduced rats are probably th...

Ship rats (Rattus rattus) were removed from sites on Pearl Island, southern Stewart Island, in 2004 and 2005, to test whether they excluded Pacific rats (R. exulans) or Norway rats (R. norvegicus) or both from podocarp-broadleaf forest. As predators can influence habitat use in rodents, Pearl Island was selected because no mammalian predators of rodents are present. Rats were trapped in two oth...

New Zealand Journal of Ecology (1997) 21(2): 141-152 ©New Zealand Ecological Society spp.), and rats (Rattus spp.), may also be contributing to the decline of kaka by reducing the birds’ productivity (Beggs and Wilson, 1991). A significant competitive interaction with possums is suggested by the fact that kaka remain common in the South Island only where possum densities are relatively low (O’D...