BACKGROUND The transmission of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is influenced by population dynamics of its main host, rodents. It is therefore important to better understand rodents' characteristic in epidemic areas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We examined the potential impact of food available and climatic variability on HFRS rodent host and developed forecasting models. Mont...

Conservation-tillage farming systems have changed agriculture and brought new challenges to the wildlife damage field. Associated minor problems may result from the presence of rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) or badgers (Taxidea taxus), but sprout-pulling damage by birds has not been reported. Rodents dig and consume newly planted corn. At least 14 small mammal species have been captured in not...

There are thousands of rodent species in the world. While they provide a number ecosystem functions, unfortunately, some cause significant damage to agriculture. Rodent occurs crops field, but also stored foods, livestock feed, and structures. many methods available reduce populations and/or damage, including both lethal non-lethal methods. advantages disadvantages most methods, regulated by fe...

Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever endemic in parts of West Africa, is a severe febrile illness transmitted to humans by the rodent Mastomys natalensis. To determine risk of Lassa fever in households in Sierra Leonean refugee camps, we analyzed the spatial relationships between households with a Lassa case and focal locations of potential rodent habitats. Quality and hygiene factors of hous...

BACKGROUND Little is known about native and non-native rodent species interactions in complex tropical agroecosystems. We hypothesised that the native non-pest rodent Rattus everetti may be competitively dominant over the invasive pest rodent Rattus tanezumi within agroforests. We tested this experimentally by using pulse removal for three consecutive months to reduce populations of R. everetti...

Inhibiting actions inappropriate for the behavioral context, or inhibitory control, is essential for survival and involves both reactively stopping the current prepared action and proactively adjusting behavioral tendencies to increase future performance. A powerful paradigm widely used in basic and clinical research to study inhibitory control is the stop signal task (SST). Recent years have s...