The multimammate mouse,Mastomys natalensis,is the most common rodent pest species in sub-Saharan Africa.Currently,rodenticides are the preferred method used to reduce the population of rodent pests,but this method pos...The multimammate mouse,Mastomys natalensis,is the most common rodent pest species in sub-Saharan Africa.Currently,rodenticides are the preferred method used to reduce the population of rodent pests,but this method poses direct and indirect risks to humans and other non-target species.Fertility control is a promising alternative that has been argued to be a more sustainable and humane method for controlling rodent pests.In this study,we compared the effectiveness of fertility control bait EP-1(quinestrol(E)and levonorgestrel(P),10 ppm)and an anticoagulant rodenticide bait(bromadiolone,50 ppm)on the population dynamics of M.natalensis in maizefields in Zambia during 2 cropping seasons.M.natalensis was the most abundant species in maizefields(77%of total captures).Fertility control reduced the number of juveniles and suppressed population growth of M.natalensis at the end of the 2019–2020 cropping season.The population density initially decreased after rodenticide treatment,but the population rapidly recovered through immigration.None of the treatments influenced maize damage by rodents at germination(F2,67=1.626,P=0.204).Applying the treatments during the maize seeding time was effective at suppressing population growth at the end of the cropping season than application the month before maize seeding.This research indicates that a single-dose delivery of EP-1 and rodenticide have comparable effects on the population dynamics of M.natalensis.Thesefindings are important in developing fertility control protocols for rodent pest populations to reduce maize crop damage and improve yields.展开更多
Consistent among individual variation in behavior,or animal personality,is present in a wide variety of species.This behavioral variation is maintained by both genetic and environmental factors.Parental effects are a ...Consistent among individual variation in behavior,or animal personality,is present in a wide variety of species.This behavioral variation is maintained by both genetic and environmental factors.Parental effects are a special case of environmental variation and are expected to evolve in populations experiencing large fluctuations in their environment.They represent a non-genetic pathway by which parents can transmit information to their offspring,by modulating their personality.While it is expected that parental effects contribute to the observed personality variation,this has rarely been studied in wild populations.We used the multimammate mouse Mastomys natalensis as a model system to investigate the potential effects of maternal personality on offspring behavior.We did this by repeatedly recording the behavior of individually housed juveniles which were born and raised in the lab from wild caught females.A linear correlation,between mother and offspring in behavior,would be expected when the personality is only affected by additive genetic variation,while a more complex relationship would suggests the presence of maternal effects.We found that the personality of the mother predicted the behavior of their offspring in a non-linear pattern.Exploration behavior of mother and offspring was positively correlated,but only for slow and average exploring mothers,while this correlation became negative for fast exploring mothers.This may suggests that early maternal effects could affect personality in juvenile M.natalensis,potentially due to density-dependent and negative frequency-dependent mechanisms,and therefore contribute to the maintenance of personality variation.展开更多
基金supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission,UK with partial funding from the African Union(grant#AURG II-1-006-2016 EcoRodMan)the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(grant#152111KYSB20160089).
文摘The multimammate mouse,Mastomys natalensis,is the most common rodent pest species in sub-Saharan Africa.Currently,rodenticides are the preferred method used to reduce the population of rodent pests,but this method poses direct and indirect risks to humans and other non-target species.Fertility control is a promising alternative that has been argued to be a more sustainable and humane method for controlling rodent pests.In this study,we compared the effectiveness of fertility control bait EP-1(quinestrol(E)and levonorgestrel(P),10 ppm)and an anticoagulant rodenticide bait(bromadiolone,50 ppm)on the population dynamics of M.natalensis in maizefields in Zambia during 2 cropping seasons.M.natalensis was the most abundant species in maizefields(77%of total captures).Fertility control reduced the number of juveniles and suppressed population growth of M.natalensis at the end of the 2019–2020 cropping season.The population density initially decreased after rodenticide treatment,but the population rapidly recovered through immigration.None of the treatments influenced maize damage by rodents at germination(F2,67=1.626,P=0.204).Applying the treatments during the maize seeding time was effective at suppressing population growth at the end of the cropping season than application the month before maize seeding.This research indicates that a single-dose delivery of EP-1 and rodenticide have comparable effects on the population dynamics of M.natalensis.Thesefindings are important in developing fertility control protocols for rodent pest populations to reduce maize crop damage and improve yields.
基金B.V.B.was funded by the Ph.D.fellowship from the Research Foundation Flanders(FWO)(grant ID:11A0817N).
文摘Consistent among individual variation in behavior,or animal personality,is present in a wide variety of species.This behavioral variation is maintained by both genetic and environmental factors.Parental effects are a special case of environmental variation and are expected to evolve in populations experiencing large fluctuations in their environment.They represent a non-genetic pathway by which parents can transmit information to their offspring,by modulating their personality.While it is expected that parental effects contribute to the observed personality variation,this has rarely been studied in wild populations.We used the multimammate mouse Mastomys natalensis as a model system to investigate the potential effects of maternal personality on offspring behavior.We did this by repeatedly recording the behavior of individually housed juveniles which were born and raised in the lab from wild caught females.A linear correlation,between mother and offspring in behavior,would be expected when the personality is only affected by additive genetic variation,while a more complex relationship would suggests the presence of maternal effects.We found that the personality of the mother predicted the behavior of their offspring in a non-linear pattern.Exploration behavior of mother and offspring was positively correlated,but only for slow and average exploring mothers,while this correlation became negative for fast exploring mothers.This may suggests that early maternal effects could affect personality in juvenile M.natalensis,potentially due to density-dependent and negative frequency-dependent mechanisms,and therefore contribute to the maintenance of personality variation.
