SHORT COMMUNICATION CALIBRATION OF TUNNEL TRACKING RATES TO ESTIMATE RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF SHIP RATS (RATTUS RATTUS)

Summary: Ship rat (Rattus rattus) and mouse (Mus musculus) density and habitat use were estimated by snap trapping and tracking tunnels at Kaharoa in central North Island, New Zealand. Eighty-one ship rats were caught in an effective trapping area of 12.4 ha. Extinction trapping gave an estimated de...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: H. Moller, J. Innes, N. Alterio
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
1990
Innes et al
1995). Measures of relative
New Zealand
Rattus rattus
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.376.2784
http://www.newzealandecology.org/nzje/free_issues/NZJEcol20_2_271.pdf
Description
Summary:Summary: Ship rat (Rattus rattus) and mouse (Mus musculus) density and habitat use were estimated by snap trapping and tracking tunnels at Kaharoa in central North Island, New Zealand. Eighty-one ship rats were caught in an effective trapping area of 12.4 ha. Extinction trapping gave an estimated density of 6.7 rats ha-1 (6.5-7.8 rats ha-1, 95 % confidence intervals). A linear relationship existed between ship rat trapping and tracking rates. Estimating the density of mice was impossible because trapping rates increased rather than decreased during the experiment. Comparisons of density from tracking and trapping rates of mice may be confounded by interference by rats, but this requires further investigation. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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