Long-term population patterns of rodents and associated damage in German forestry

Imholt, Christian; Reil, Daniela; Plašil, Pavel; Rödiger, Kerstin; Jacob, Jens

doi:10.1002/ps.4325

Cited by 28 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…for field voles ( Microtus agrestis ) or bank voles ( Myodes glareolus ) some of which go back to 1952 (Imholt et al. 2017). However, these data sets were not used in the current study, as the observation periods available for the voles did not match those available for I. ricinus .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forecasting next season’s Ixodes ricinus nymphal density: the example of southern Germany 2018

et al. 2018

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The castor bean tick, Ixodes ricinus (L.) (Ixodida: Ixodidae), is the principal vector of pathogens causing tick-borne encephalitis or Lyme borreliosis in Europe. It is therefore of general interest to make an estimate of the density of I. ricinus for the whole year at the beginning of the tick season. There are two necessary conditions for making a successful prediction: a long homogeneous time series of observed tick density and a clear biological relationship between environmental predictors and tick density. A 9-year time series covering the period 2009–2017 of nymphal I. ricinus flagged at monthly intervals in southern Germany has been used. With the hypothesis that I. ricinus density is triggered by the fructification of the European beech 2 years before, the mean annual temperature of the previous year, and the current mean winter temperature (December–February), a forecast of the annual nymphal tick density has been made. Therefore, a Poisson regression model was generated resulting in an explained variance of 93.4% and an error of ticks per (annual collected ticks/). An independent verification of the forecast for the year 2017 resulted in 187 predicted versus 180 observed nymphs per . For the year 2018 a relatively high number of 443 questing I. ricinus nymphs per is forecasted, i.e., a “good” tick year.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forecasting next season’s Ixodes ricinus nymphal density: the example of southern Germany 2018

et al. 2018

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“…Rodents generally provide important food resources to both terrestrial and avian predators, and play an important role in shaping the structure and functioning of many ecosystems (Davidson & Lightfoot, 2006;Millon et al, 2014;Olofsson et al, 2014). However, many rodents are also important agricultural pests (Imholt, Reil, Plašil, Rödiger, & Jacob, 2017) and disease transmitters (Suntsov, Huong, Suntsova, & Gratz, 1997). To keep the density of rodents in an appropriate range is often a great challenge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological factors affecting flight initiation distance in Daurian ground squirrels (Spermophilus dauricus)

et al. 2019

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More often than not, animals forage under predation risk. Foragers, therefore, face a challenge to balance between two conflicting tasks, namely energy intake and safety. Flight initiation distance (FID, defined as the distance between a prey and a predator when the prey starts to flee) has been widely measured in many taxa to study such economic trade‐offs. However, FID may also be affected by limitations on the prey's ability to detect predators, especially when there is visual obstruction caused by surrounding vegetation. Although both vegetation cover and vegetation height may contribute to such obstruction, the effect of vegetation height on FID has not been well studied. In this study, we explored the effects of vegetation height, vegetation cover and distance to refuge on FID in free‐living Daurian ground squirrels (Spermophilus dauricus) inhabiting a grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. Multiple linear regressions suggested that both vegetation height and distance to refuge significantly affected FID in S. dauricus. Ground squirrels fled earlier when vegetation was low or when foraging farther away from a refuge. No significant effect of vegetation cover on FID was detected. Our results have implications for ecologically based pest control, and FID may be used as an effective and easy‐to‐use behavioral indicator in wildlife management.

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“…These species often cause substantial damage to pastures as well as ground and tree crops through grazing or browsing. For example, outbreaks of rodents in apple‐growing areas in Germany can cause up to €25 million per year of damage . Close grazing by large numbers of the European rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) can weaken or kill even persistent leafy crops, and scratching and burrowing can degrade pasture still further by encouraging the establishment of weeds .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large‐scale assessment of European rabbit damage to agriculture in Spain

Delibes‐Mateos

Farfán

Rouco

et al. 2017

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUND: Numerous small and medium-sized mammal pests cause widespread and economically significant damage to crops all over the globe. However, most research on pest species has focused on accounts of the level of damage. There are fewer studies concentrating on the description of crop damage caused by pests at large geographical scales, or on analysis of the ecological and anthropogenic factors correlated with these observed patterns. We investigated the relationship between agricultural damage by the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and environmental and anthropogenic variables throughout Spain. RESULTS: Rabbit damage was mainly concentrated within the central-southern regions of Spain. We found that rabbit damage increased significantly between the early 2000s and 2013. Greater losses were typical of those areas where farming dominated and natural vegetation was scarce, where main railways and highways were present, and where environmental conditions were generally favourable for rabbit populations to proliferate.CONCLUSION: From our analysis, we suggest that roads and railway lines act as potential corridors along which rabbits can spread. The recent increase in Spain of such infrastructure may explain the rise in rabbit damage reported in this study. Our approach is valuable as a method for assessing drivers of wildlife pest damage at large spatial scales, and can be used to propose methods to reduce human − wildlife conflict.

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Long-term population patterns of rodents and associated damage in German forestry

Cited by 28 publications

References 45 publications

Forecasting next season’s Ixodes ricinus nymphal density: the example of southern Germany 2018

Forecasting next season’s Ixodes ricinus nymphal density: the example of southern Germany 2018

Ecological factors affecting flight initiation distance in Daurian ground squirrels (Spermophilus dauricus)

A large‐scale assessment of European rabbit damage to agriculture in Spain

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