Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats

Aotearoa–New Zealand has embarked on an ambitious goal: to completely eradicate key invasive mammals by 2050. This will require novel tools capable of eliminating pests on a large scale. In New Zealand, large-scale pest suppression is typically carried out using aerial application of the toxin sodiu...

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Published in:Animals
Main Authors: Tess D. R. O’Malley, Margaret C. Stanley, James C. Russell
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030309
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spelling ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2076-2615/12/3/309/ 2023-08-20T04:09:25+02:00 Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats Tess D. R. O’Malley Margaret C. Stanley James C. Russell agris 2022-01-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030309 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Wildlife https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12030309 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Animals; Volume 12; Issue 3; Pages: 309 density eradication invasive species predator-free Rattus rattus rodent sodium fluoroacetate (1080) spatially explicit capture–recapture Text 2022 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030309 2023-08-01T03:58:25Z Aotearoa–New Zealand has embarked on an ambitious goal: to completely eradicate key invasive mammals by 2050. This will require novel tools capable of eliminating pests on a large scale. In New Zealand, large-scale pest suppression is typically carried out using aerial application of the toxin sodium fluoroacetate (1080). However, as currently applied, this tool does not remove all individuals. A novel application method, dubbed ‘1080-to-zero’, aims to change this and reduce the abundances of target pests to zero or near-zero. One such target is black rats (Rattus rattus), an invasive species challenging to control using ground-based methods. This study monitored and compared the response of black rats to a 1080-to-zero operation and a standard suppression 1080 operation. No difference in the efficacy of rat removal was found between the two treatments. The 1080-to-zero operation did not achieve its goal of rat elimination or reduction to near-zero levels, with an estimated 1540 rats surviving across the 2200 ha treatment area. However, 1080 operations can produce variable responses, and the results observed here differ from the only other reported 1080-to-zero operation. We encourage further research into this tool, including how factors such as ecosystem type, mast fruiting and operational timing influence success. Text Rattus rattus MDPI Open Access Publishing New Zealand Animals 12 3 309
institution Open Polar
collection MDPI Open Access Publishing
op_collection_id ftmdpi
language English
topic density
eradication
invasive species
predator-free
Rattus rattus
rodent
sodium fluoroacetate (1080)
spatially explicit capture–recapture
spellingShingle density
eradication
invasive species
predator-free
Rattus rattus
rodent
sodium fluoroacetate (1080)
spatially explicit capture–recapture
Tess D. R. O’Malley
Margaret C. Stanley
James C. Russell
Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats
topic_facet density
eradication
invasive species
predator-free
Rattus rattus
rodent
sodium fluoroacetate (1080)
spatially explicit capture–recapture
description Aotearoa–New Zealand has embarked on an ambitious goal: to completely eradicate key invasive mammals by 2050. This will require novel tools capable of eliminating pests on a large scale. In New Zealand, large-scale pest suppression is typically carried out using aerial application of the toxin sodium fluoroacetate (1080). However, as currently applied, this tool does not remove all individuals. A novel application method, dubbed ‘1080-to-zero’, aims to change this and reduce the abundances of target pests to zero or near-zero. One such target is black rats (Rattus rattus), an invasive species challenging to control using ground-based methods. This study monitored and compared the response of black rats to a 1080-to-zero operation and a standard suppression 1080 operation. No difference in the efficacy of rat removal was found between the two treatments. The 1080-to-zero operation did not achieve its goal of rat elimination or reduction to near-zero levels, with an estimated 1540 rats surviving across the 2200 ha treatment area. However, 1080 operations can produce variable responses, and the results observed here differ from the only other reported 1080-to-zero operation. We encourage further research into this tool, including how factors such as ecosystem type, mast fruiting and operational timing influence success.
format Text
author Tess D. R. O’Malley
Margaret C. Stanley
James C. Russell
author_facet Tess D. R. O’Malley
Margaret C. Stanley
James C. Russell
author_sort Tess D. R. O’Malley
title Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats
title_short Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats
title_full Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats
title_fullStr Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats
title_full_unstemmed Assessing Two Different Aerial Toxin Treatments for the Management of Invasive Rats
title_sort assessing two different aerial toxin treatments for the management of invasive rats
publisher Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publishDate 2022
url https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030309
op_coverage agris
geographic New Zealand
geographic_facet New Zealand
genre Rattus rattus
genre_facet Rattus rattus
op_source Animals; Volume 12; Issue 3; Pages: 309
op_relation Wildlife
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12030309
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030309
container_title Animals
container_volume 12
container_issue 3
container_start_page 309
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