| Summary: | Farmers rank rodents as first among three most important pre-harvest pests of rice in the terraced fields of Banaue and Hungduan, Ifugao Province. PhilRice and the Local Government Units (LGUs) of Banaue and Hungduan initiated a collaborative project towards the development of ecologically sustainable rodent management options, with technical support from CSIRO Community Ecology Group, Australia. Towards this goal, the first important step is to understand the rodent species diversity inhabiting the area and identify the pest and the non-pest rodent species. In addition, rodent diversity could be used as an indicator of the status of the ecosystem. In the two Ifugao municipalities (Banaue and Hungduan), rodents were collected from November 2002 to June 2003 using multi-capture-cage traps (47 cm x 26 cm x 26 cm), snap traps, fly glue traps, and by hunting in rice fields adjacent to forests, farmers' residences, and riverbanks. Using external and skeletal features, six species inhabiting areas in or near the terraced rice fields were identified: (1) Rattus rattus (2) Mus musculus (subspecies uncertain), (3) Rattus exulans, (4) Rattus everetti, (5) Chrotomys whiteheadi and (6) Suncus murinus (the House Shrew). The key rodent pest species in the terraced rice fields is R. rattus, while in the farmer's residences, M. musculus and R. exulans are important. So far, R. argentiventer was not encountered in the area. Regular captures of the non-pest rodent species C. whiteheadi in the rice terraces and one capture of a second native rodent (R. everetti), were important discoveries as they highlight the importance of developing an integrated rodent management program that conserves non-destructive native rodent species in the area, while managing the rodent pest species. It is proposed that chemical taxonomic characterization be done in the future to identify more precisely the particular sub species of R. rattus and M. musculus in the region. In addition, studies should be initiated on the life history patterns of the key ...
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