We conducted a natural removal experiment, utilizing a local outbreak of sylvatic plague (Yersinia pestis) as the removal agent, to test the effects of removal of Gunnison’s prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) on plant and nocturnal rodent assemblages in three grassland habitats (ponderosa, pinyon-juniper, and desert grasslands) in northern Arizona. We measured plant cover, rodent abundance, plant...

Comparative efficacy of brodifacoum, bromadialone (second-generation single-dose anticoagulant) was evaluated in a coconut crop on Minicoy Island. Preand postrodent control relative levels of rodent populations and damages were recorded as indices for assessing effectiveness of different concentrations and different bait formulations of three rodenticides. The black rat, Rattus rattus (Linnaeus...

Current issues in rodenticide anticoagulant resistance testing are reviewed. Research and management issues for New Zealand agencies include: 1. Assessing and monitoring the spread of resistance. 2. Standardising and improving resistance-testing techniques. 3. Identifying from the range of tests that have been developed for assessing rodenticide resistance which is the best to use. 4. Developin...

Polyethylenimine (PEI) has been proposed as a non-viral vector, and has been successfully used to transfer reporter genes into the central nervous system (CNS), kidneys, and lungs of adult mice. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a peptide expressed in the hypothalamus and is important in the regulation of body weight. Using PEI combined with stereotactic microinjection, we have successfully transferred c...

Large-scale rodent control can help to manage endangered species that are vulnerable to invasive rodent consumption. A 26 ha rodent snap-trap grid was installed in montane forest on Oahu Island, Hawaii, in order to protect endangered snails and plants. To assess the effectiveness of this trapping operation in reducing fruit consumption and seed predation of the endangered Hawaiian lobeliad, Cya...

The disadvantages of the acute, fast-acting, rodenticides are well understood by the specialist. However, despite poison-shyness and consequent short-lived, low efficacy rodent control, many users prefer "acutes" such as zinc phosphide to "first-generation" anticoagulants of the warfarin type. The techniques necessary for efficient use of the first-generation anticoagulants are often inappropri...

Background and Aims: The aim of this study is to clarify nitric oxide (NO)-production by spleen and the importance of spleen in malaria infection in murine model. Materials and Methods: Thirty outbred NMRI female mice were divided into four groups, Group I: No intervention (Healthy control), Group II: With splenectomy (Healthy test), Group III: No intervention, Inoculation of contaminated bloo...

Rodent baits containing systemic insecticides are potential tools to interrupt the cycle of transmission of Leishmania parasites by killing sand flies that take bloodmeals from rodents as adults. Bio-indicators that can be used in conjunction with rodent-targeted sand fly control methods also have been developed to demonstrate that the insecticide treatments are reaching the targeted life stage...

Hantaviruses are the causative agents of the zoonotic diseases known as haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Europe and Asia, and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the Americas. These pathogens are maintained in the wild by rodent reservoirs and are mainly transmitted via the aerosol route. The infection is chronic and apparently asymptomatic in host animals. Whilst HFRS is cau...