Kararehe Kino - Vertebrate Pest Research, Issue 19
December 2011 — Overseas Research
In this issue
![serengetti thumb](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/67929/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Small mammal dynamics in Serengeti, East Africa: implications of climate and land use change for a savannah ecosystem
The Serengeti Biodiversity Programme in Tanzania has been running at a variety of sites in Serengeti National Park for almost 45 years. Andrea Byrom, Wendy Ruscoe and Guy Forrester, have reviewed the long-term data specifically for rodent populations as indicators of the impacts of climate change.
![Young female coyote Young female coyote hunting along a roadside in upland habitat adjacent to caribou range. Image - Dave Latham.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0010/67861/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Coyotes invade woodland caribou range
Coyotes were historically restricted to the Great Plains of the Midwestern and western United States. Over the past two centuries, they have expanded their geographic range to encompass much of North America.
![Tasman Island Tasman Island off the coast of Tasmania. Image - Grant Norbury.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0007/67867/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Eradication of feral cats from Tasman Island
Grant Norbury and Alan Saunders were contracted with Tasmanian colleagues, to draft a plan to eradicate the cats.
![Red-footed booby Red-footed booby on nest on Lehua Island in Hawai’i. Image - Eric van der Werf.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0003/67872/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Which toxin is best for eradicating rodents on islands?
Since the 1980s, rats and mice have been eradicated from nearly 600 islands around the world mostly by using anticoagulant toxins.
![isabel thumb](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0007/67930/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Confirming successful eradication of rats from Isabel Island, Mexico
Dean Anderson working with Araceli Herrera of the Conservación de Islas, México, use data from an eradication operation of black (ship) rats from Isabel Island, Mexico, to illustrate a spatial-survey model for confirming eradication.
![Galapagos tortoise In trials to assess non-target risk, captive Galapagos tortoises were presented with food containing the rodenticide brodifacoum. Image - Penny Fisher.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0007/67885/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Assessing risk to non-target animals from brodifacoum bait in the Galápagos
Penny Fisher and colleagues at the Charles Darwin Research Station were commissioned to investigate the risk of brodifacoum to Galápagos tortoises on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos.
![Archipelago denuded and eroded to bare rock Large areas of the Archipelago are denuded and eroded to bare rock. Image - Alan Saunders.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/67893/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Managing invasive species in a biodiversity hotspot: the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile
Recently Al Glen and Alan Saunders took part in a study on how to minimise the impacts of invasive species on the flora and fauna of the Juan Fernández Archipelago, a cluster of three islands several hundred kilometres west of mainland Chile.
![fox Fox in Glenelg Ark at a baited remote camera trap, used as part of the wider study. Photo taken with a DSE remote camera.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0005/67901/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Effects of predator control on native mammals: Glenelg Ark, Victoria
The Glenelg Ark project was established by the Department of Sustainability (DSE) and Parks Victoria in 2005 to facilitate the recovery of native Australian mammal populations considered at risk from predation by foxes.
![rabbit proof fence Study site with predator-proof fence and artificial warrens. Image - Carlos Rouco.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0011/67907/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Do coccidian and nematode infections influence immunity against myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease in European rabbits?
Wild animals are often infected with several types of parasites whose interactions determine the host’s fitness and the epidemiology of disease. Carlos Rouco and colleagues studied these interactions in rabbits in southern Spain, the original home of rabbits.
![possum inoculation Vaccine being applied to the external surface of the nose and into the mouth to simulate the natural feeding behaviour of possums. Image – Jane Arrow.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0009/67914/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Fertility control vaccines for possums: progress, challenges and prospects
Worldwide there is a lot of interest in developing humane non-lethal methods of pest control. In New Zealand research is focused on fertility control and aims to develop publicly-acceptable immunocontraceptive vaccines suitable for delivery in bait to free-living possums.
![Rice paddies Flooded rice paddies in Cambodia. Image - Wendy Roscoe.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/67920/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
International consultancies and reviews
Reviewing control options for rats in South East Asia, Analysing samples for vertebrate pesticides, Alternatives for the control of mammalian pests in Tasmania, Rat versus rat to prevent re-invasion.
![KK publications thumb](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0010/71767/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Recent publications
Some recent vertebrate-pest-related publications.