The effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population

Abstract Shortly after the enactment of restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, various local government and public health authorities around the world reported an increased sighting of rats. Such reports have yet to be empirically validated. Here we combined data from multi-catch rod...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Miguel A. Bedoya-Pérez, Michael P. Ward, Max Loomes, Iain S. McGregor, Mathew S. Crowther
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/bcbbc1340d854a9aa77afd00856136b1
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:bcbbc1340d854a9aa77afd00856136b1
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:bcbbc1340d854a9aa77afd00856136b12021-12-02T17:12:25ZThe effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population10.1038/s41598-021-92301-02045-2322https://doaj.org/article/bcbbc1340d854a9aa77afd00856136b12021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92301-0https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Shortly after the enactment of restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, various local government and public health authorities around the world reported an increased sighting of rats. Such reports have yet to be empirically validated. Here we combined data from multi-catch rodent stations (providing data on rodent captures), rodent bait stations (providing data on rodent activity) and residents’ complaints to explore the effects of a six week lockdown period on rodent populations within the City of Sydney, Australia. The sampling interval encompassed October 2019 to July 2020 with lockdown defined as the interval from April 1st to May 15th, 2020. Rodent captures and activity (visits to bait stations) were stable prior to lockdown. Captures showed a rapid increase and then decline during the lockdown, while rodent visits to bait stations declined throughout this period. There were no changes in the frequency of complaints during lockdown relative to before and after lockdown. There was a non-directional change in the geographical distribution of indices of rodent abundance suggesting that rodents redistributed in response to resource scarcity. We hypothesize that lockdown measures initially resulted in increased rodent captures due to sudden shortage of human-derived food resources. Rodent visits to bait stations might not show this pattern due to the nature of the binary data collected, namely the presence or absence of a visit. Relocation of bait stations driven by pest management goals may also have affected the detection of any directional spatial effect. We conclude that the onset of COVID-19 may have disrupted commensal rodent populations, with possible implications for the future management of these ubiquitous urban indicator species.Miguel A. Bedoya-PérezMichael P. WardMax LoomesIain S. McGregorMathew S. CrowtherNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Miguel A. Bedoya-Pérez
Michael P. Ward
Max Loomes
Iain S. McGregor
Mathew S. Crowther
The effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population
description Abstract Shortly after the enactment of restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, various local government and public health authorities around the world reported an increased sighting of rats. Such reports have yet to be empirically validated. Here we combined data from multi-catch rodent stations (providing data on rodent captures), rodent bait stations (providing data on rodent activity) and residents’ complaints to explore the effects of a six week lockdown period on rodent populations within the City of Sydney, Australia. The sampling interval encompassed October 2019 to July 2020 with lockdown defined as the interval from April 1st to May 15th, 2020. Rodent captures and activity (visits to bait stations) were stable prior to lockdown. Captures showed a rapid increase and then decline during the lockdown, while rodent visits to bait stations declined throughout this period. There were no changes in the frequency of complaints during lockdown relative to before and after lockdown. There was a non-directional change in the geographical distribution of indices of rodent abundance suggesting that rodents redistributed in response to resource scarcity. We hypothesize that lockdown measures initially resulted in increased rodent captures due to sudden shortage of human-derived food resources. Rodent visits to bait stations might not show this pattern due to the nature of the binary data collected, namely the presence or absence of a visit. Relocation of bait stations driven by pest management goals may also have affected the detection of any directional spatial effect. We conclude that the onset of COVID-19 may have disrupted commensal rodent populations, with possible implications for the future management of these ubiquitous urban indicator species.
format article
author Miguel A. Bedoya-Pérez
Michael P. Ward
Max Loomes
Iain S. McGregor
Mathew S. Crowther
author_facet Miguel A. Bedoya-Pérez
Michael P. Ward
Max Loomes
Iain S. McGregor
Mathew S. Crowther
author_sort Miguel A. Bedoya-Pérez
title The effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population
title_short The effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population
title_full The effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population
title_fullStr The effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population
title_full_unstemmed The effect of COVID19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population
title_sort effect of covid19 pandemic restrictions on an urban rodent population
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/bcbbc1340d854a9aa77afd00856136b1
work_keys_str_mv AT miguelabedoyaperez theeffectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT michaelpward theeffectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT maxloomes theeffectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT iainsmcgregor theeffectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT mathewscrowther theeffectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT miguelabedoyaperez effectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT michaelpward effectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT maxloomes effectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT iainsmcgregor effectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
AT mathewscrowther effectofcovid19pandemicrestrictionsonanurbanrodentpopulation
_version_ 1718381401750896640