Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand
Control of invasive mammals is central to the conservation and restoration of native habitats, especially in unique and vulnerable island ecosystems. While methods for eradication of pest mammals on offshore islands are well-established, long-term suppression at mainland sites and in other locations...
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Language: | English |
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ftcdlib:qt4pm8392m 2023-05-15T18:05:31+02:00 Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand Carter, Anna Peters, Darren 308 - 313 2016-01-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4pm8392m english eng eScholarship, University of California qt4pm8392m http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4pm8392m public Carter, Anna; & Peters, Darren. (2016). Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 27(27), 308 - 313. doi:10.5070/V427110527. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4pm8392m automatic trap invasive mammals island biosecurity New Zealand Rattus rattus rodent control ship rat Life Sciences article 2016 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.5070/V427110527 2019-04-05T22:52:25Z Control of invasive mammals is central to the conservation and restoration of native habitats, especially in unique and vulnerable island ecosystems. While methods for eradication of pest mammals on offshore islands are well-established, long-term suppression at mainland sites and in other locations with an extremely high risk of re-invasion remains challenging. We examined the use of CO2-powered, self-resetting traps for control of rats during a beech forest mast on the New Zealand mainland. Goodnature® A24 automatic traps installed on a 100 × 50-m grid reduced tracking indices for ship rats from 68% to 0% within a 200-ha area over a period of four months. The extent of the trapped area was then increased to 700 ha, with the resolution of the trapping grid reduced to 100 × 100 m. Tracking indices within the expanded area decreased from 44% to 0% within an additional two months. Activity of rats in a non-treatment site remained at around 70% for the duration of the project. Tracking indices for house mice decreased from 22% to 0% within four months and remained low for the duration of the project, indicating that non-targeted control of house mice was also achieved within the project area. Our results show that Goodnature® A24 self-resetting traps can successfully knock down and suppress rats from plague levels within an unprotected, mainland site. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus University of California: eScholarship New Zealand Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference 27 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
English |
topic |
automatic trap invasive mammals island biosecurity New Zealand Rattus rattus rodent control ship rat Life Sciences |
spellingShingle |
automatic trap invasive mammals island biosecurity New Zealand Rattus rattus rodent control ship rat Life Sciences Carter, Anna Peters, Darren Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand |
topic_facet |
automatic trap invasive mammals island biosecurity New Zealand Rattus rattus rodent control ship rat Life Sciences |
description |
Control of invasive mammals is central to the conservation and restoration of native habitats, especially in unique and vulnerable island ecosystems. While methods for eradication of pest mammals on offshore islands are well-established, long-term suppression at mainland sites and in other locations with an extremely high risk of re-invasion remains challenging. We examined the use of CO2-powered, self-resetting traps for control of rats during a beech forest mast on the New Zealand mainland. Goodnature® A24 automatic traps installed on a 100 × 50-m grid reduced tracking indices for ship rats from 68% to 0% within a 200-ha area over a period of four months. The extent of the trapped area was then increased to 700 ha, with the resolution of the trapping grid reduced to 100 × 100 m. Tracking indices within the expanded area decreased from 44% to 0% within an additional two months. Activity of rats in a non-treatment site remained at around 70% for the duration of the project. Tracking indices for house mice decreased from 22% to 0% within four months and remained low for the duration of the project, indicating that non-targeted control of house mice was also achieved within the project area. Our results show that Goodnature® A24 self-resetting traps can successfully knock down and suppress rats from plague levels within an unprotected, mainland site. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carter, Anna Peters, Darren |
author_facet |
Carter, Anna Peters, Darren |
author_sort |
Carter, Anna |
title |
Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand |
title_short |
Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand |
title_full |
Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand |
title_fullStr |
Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand |
title_full_unstemmed |
Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand |
title_sort |
self-resetting traps provide sustained, landscape-scale control of a rat plague in new zealand |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4pm8392m |
op_coverage |
308 - 313 |
geographic |
New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Carter, Anna; & Peters, Darren. (2016). Self-Resetting Traps Provide Sustained, Landscape-Scale Control of a Rat Plague in New Zealand. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 27(27), 308 - 313. doi:10.5070/V427110527. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4pm8392m |
op_relation |
qt4pm8392m http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4pm8392m |
op_rights |
public |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5070/V427110527 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference |
container_volume |
27 |
_version_ |
1766176989323984896 |