Avoidance of novel objects by rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.)

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sunnucks
Keyword(s):  
Crop Protection ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Novel Objects ◽  
Limited Application ◽  
Below Ground ◽  
Stimulus Number

Neophobia (fear of new stimuli) is an important component of mammalian behavioural ecology. In addition, information on neophobia in pest species could be of great significance in targetting control measures and predicting changes in responses to them. Novel objects and an auditory stimulus were presented to individually marked wild rabbits living socially in clumped warrens in southern British farmland. Avoidance of stimuli was measured by scan sampling of rabbits’ locations, in replicated experiments. Rabbits avoided a variety of novel objects by staying below ground, and by changing their activity ranges. Responses to different stimuli were correlated within individuals. There were non-significant differences in the degree of avoidance elicited by novel visual stimuli. The most important factors in avoidance were distance from the stimulus, number of previous presentations, and rabbit identity. Individual characteristics, including sex, social rank, and trappability, were less important determinants of neophobia, although dominant females were significantly more neophobic than were non-dominant ones. Only one or two presentations were required for attenuation of avoidance, so novel objects would be of limited application to crop protection. However, equipment used for delivering control measures should also quickly become accepted by rabbits. The measured avoidance and its attenuation indicate that rabbits assessed and responded to their surroundings with high precision, with significant individual variation consistent over stimuli.

scholarly journals Depression and loneliness of older adults in Europe and Israel after the first wave of covid-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefine Atzendorf ◽  
Stefan Gruber
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Epidemic Control ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Interaction Terms ◽  
Share Data ◽  
Using Data

AbstractEpidemic control measures that aim to introduce social distancing help to decelerate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their consequences in terms of mental well-being might be negative, especially for older adults. While existing studies mainly focus on the time during the first lockdown, we look at the weeks afterward in order to measure the medium-term consequences of the first wave of the pandemic. Using data from the SHARE Corona Survey, we include retired respondents aged 60 and above from 25 European countries plus Israel. Combining SHARE data with macro-data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker allows us to include macro-indicators at the country level, namely the number of deaths per 100,000 and the number of days with stringent epidemic control measures, in addition to individual characteristics. The findings show that both macro-indicators are influential for increased feelings of sadness/depression, but that individual factors are crucial for explaining increased feelings of loneliness in the time after the first lockdown. Models with interaction terms reveal that the included macro-indicators have negative well-being consequences, particularly for the oldest survey participants. Additionally, the results reveal that especially those living alone had a higher risk for increased loneliness in the time after the first COVID-19 wave.

Effects on non-target animal populations of a rabbit trail-baiting campaign with 1080 poison

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 315 ◽  
Author(s):  
JC Mcilroy ◽  
EJ Gifford
Keyword(s):  
Vulpes Vulpes ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Target Animal ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Exotic Pest

Populations of non-target birds and mammals on a semi-cleared grazing property near Braidwood, New South Wales, did not appear to be affected by a trail-baiting campaign against rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, using pellet bait and 1080 poison. Rabbit numbers were reduced by about 90% and those of the fox, Vulpes vulpes, another exotic pest, by about 75%. Populations of both pest species began recovering soon after the campaign, indicating the need for continued control measures.

Commercial application of biological control: status and prospects

1988 ◽  
Vol 318 (1189) ◽  
pp. 357-373 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Integrated Control ◽  
Crop Protection ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Commercial Application ◽  
Specific Chemical ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi

The global market value of control agents used in crop protection and public health is approaching $16 000 million annually, but less than 1% of this market is penetrated by biological control agents (BCAs). This paper examines the suitability of different types of BCA to research and commercialization, bearing in mind the sharply targeted approach employed by much of the industry. Advantages and disadvantages are discussed along with examples of failures and successes with BCAs. Commercialized products described range from specific chemical control agents which have no adverse effects on beneficial organisms to true BCAs such as pheromones, mass-produced bacteria, and predatory mites. From a commercial viewpoint, greatest potential resides with the utilization of bacteria and fungi, particularly for insect control, but registerability (particularly for genetically engineered agents) patentability, reliability and cost-effectiveness must be achieved. Industry believes that biotechnology will increase the usefulness of BCAs and is therefore encouraging cooperation with academic researchers and performing in-house research to advance the technology. Even so, BCAs will not replace chemicals in the foreseeable future, but will complement them and allow the development of improved integrated control measures.

Managing problem wildlife in the ‘Old World’: a veterinary perspective

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Artois
Keyword(s):  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Game Species ◽  
Domestic Species ◽  
Stray Dog ◽  
Methods Of Control

This paper focuses on mammalian pest species mainly in Europe and Africa and on implications for animal health, human safety, wildlife management and animal welfare. Three examples of problem species are presented: the wild boar (Sus scrofa), the stray dog (Canis familiaris) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Several species are reservoirs or vectors of transmissible diseases of man and of economically valuable domestic species. The control of these and other infections and the limitation of the nuisance or damage caused by these pest species involves lethal or non-lethal methods which are briefly reviewed. Some control measures require veterinary expertise, and veterinary involvement in managing problem species is likely to increase. With regard to fertility control, methods are considered which will allow an appropriate choice of the best technique for the management of problem animals in various habitats. For desirable native species, traditional methods of control, especially hunting in the case of game species, is preferable to contraception. For exotic or feral species, control of fertility seems to be a worthwhile option.

Discussion session: Prospects and challenges

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 179
Keyword(s):  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Game Species ◽  
Domestic Species ◽  
Stray Dog ◽  
Methods Of Control

This paper focuses on mammalian pest species mainly in Europe and Africa and on implications for animal health, human safety, wildlife management and animal welfare. Three examples of problem species are presented: the wild boar (Sus scrofa), the stray dog (Canis familiaris) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Several species are reservoirs or vectors of transmissible diseases of man and of economically valuable domestic species. The control of these and other infections and the limitation of the nuisance or damage caused by these pest species involves lethal or non-lethal methods which are briefly reviewed. Some control measures require veterinary expertise, and veterinary involvement in managing problem species is likely to increase. With regard to fertility control, methods are considered which will allow an appropriate choice of the best technique for the management of problem animals in various habitats. For desirable native species, traditional methods of control, especially hunting in the case of game species, is preferable to contraception. For exotic or feral species, control of fertility seems to be a worthwhile option.

Rational strategies for the control of queleas and other migrant bird pests in Africa

1979 ◽  
Vol 287 (1022) ◽  
pp. 289-300 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Protection ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Natural Food ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Control Effort ◽  
Protection Strategies ◽  
Major Pest ◽  
Migrant Bird

The red-billed quelea, Quelea quelea , a major pest of cereal crops in Africa, has been ‘controlled’ in many countries for over 20 years. Yet its numbers do not appear to have altered significantly in consequence. Low rainfall, which adversely affects the supply of the birds’ natural food (wild grass seeds), can be held responsible for the temporary decline in numbers in South Africa between 1955 and 1963, and for the currently reduced population in the Sahel states. Attempts to make the population reduction strategy effective by increasing the control effort are likely to be unsuccessful and costly. Instead, other crop protection strategies should be selected, each appropriate to particular damage situations. Where damage is caused to irrigated crops in the dry season, or to wet season crops grown along the birds’ migration routes, an alteration of crop phenology strategy is appropriate. But where damage is caused by newly independent young, the destruction of nearby breeding colonies is required. Such destruction should aim to give local and temporary relief and not attempt overall regulation of the pest’s population. Neither scaring techniques (including chemical repellents), nor so-called birdproof varieties, offer much hope, since damage is largely caused by birds which have no alternative, natural, food source at the time. Other bird pest species require substantial biological research before logical decisions on strategy can be made.

scholarly journals Molecular identification of the swede midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
pp. 771-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juerg E. Frey ◽  
Beatrice Frey ◽  
Robert Baur
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Crop Protection ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Molecular Diagnostic ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Adult Life Span ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Major Pest ◽  
Swede Midge ◽  
Species Specific

AbstractEarly detection of pest infestation is a prerequisite for sustainable crop protection. However, many pest species are difficult to detect and thus infestation is diagnosed from damage observed on the respective crop. This diagnosis is often made too late for implementation of crop protection measures, and serious crop losses may result. The swede midge, Contarinia nasturtii Kieffer, is a major pest of Brassica L. (Brassicaceae) vegetables in Europe that has recently invaded North America. With its small size and short adult life-span, and the cryptic lifestyle of the larvae feeding at the growing points of its host plants, it is usually detected only after damage has already occurred. Furthermore, because field-trapped specimens are rarely fully intact, it is extremely difficult to identify. Therefore, we developed a species-specific molecular diagnostic method that enables reliable identification of swede midge from various sources such as alcohol or sticky glue traps. The method enables large-scale screening of field-trapped specimens and is used to evaluate the attractiveness and specificity of pheromone traps that are currently under development.

Crop protection

1973 ◽  
Vol 267 (882) ◽  
pp. 93-100 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Crop Protection ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
Increase Productivity ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Favourable Situation

Crop protection materials and techniques can increase productivity by preventing losses of yield or quality due to invading pests and by increasing the efficiency of men and machines. Spectacular advances have been made during the last 40 years in the availability of new highly active and relatively efficient chemicals which are reliable, safe, easy to use and cheap. Consequently, needs and opportunities for further new chemicals have slowed up in the last few years, while the costs of discovering and developing them have soared. Despite this agriculturally favourable situation, losses of productivity due to pests are higher than they need be. This is particularly so in after-harvest losses due to pest attacks which are still much too high in many crops and many countries. Increased productivity by better crop protection in the 1980s will demand better post-harvest protection of crops, more use of chemicals on an area basis, and spray programmes against a wider range of pest species. Early preventive usage should also increase, with less reliance on partial late cures. Most of the changing needs of individual farms in the 1980s can be met by the use of existing or forthcoming chemicals alone or in mixtures, or by special formulations or methods of use. As long as the chemical industry is not unduly hampered by irrational fears concerning the human environment, or long-term survival of agricultural soils, or the human race, it will continue to produce still more chemicals to combat existing and new agricultural problems, and should be encouraged to do so. One must, however, doubt whether non-chemical methods as we now know them will make more than a minor added contribution.

scholarly journals Microbial Pesticides for Insect Pest Management: Success and Risk Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-32
Author(s):  
Mandla Rajashekhar ◽  
Banda Rajashekar ◽  
Eetela Sathyanarayana ◽  
M. C. Keerthi ◽  
Padala Vinod Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Entomopathogenic Nematode ◽  
Insect Pest ◽  
Crop Protection ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Stress Factors ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Microbial Pesticides ◽  
The World

Biotic stress is a major cause for pre and postharvest losses in agriculture. Food crops of the world are damaged by more than of 10,000 species of insects 30,000 species of weeds, 1,00, 000 types of diseases (due to fungi, viruses, bacteria and various microbes) and a 1,000 species of nematodes. Modern day management practices for the above specified stress factors largely depends on the utilization of synthetic pesticides. Pesticide misuse in numerous sectors of agriculture frequently has often linked to health issues and environmental pollution around the world. Thus, there is a growing interest in replacing or possibly supplementing the prevailing control strategies with new and safer techniques. One of the promising management tools in this new state of affairs for crop protection is microbial pesticides. At present, only 3% of plant protectants used globally are covered by bio pesticides, but their growth rate indicates an increasing trend in the past two decades. The discovery of insecticidal property of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) indicated a more extensive part of organism based natural control. Microbial pesticides comprise of a microorganisms (bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) or toxins produced by them as the active ingredient. The most commonly used microbial pesticides are entomopathogenic fungi (Metarhizium, Beauveria and Verticillium), entomopathogenic bacteria (Bt), entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema and Heterorhabditis) and baculoviruses (NPV and GV) which able to cause disease in insects. Microbial insecticides are promising alternative to ecologically disruptive pest control measures as they are no longer harmful to the environment and non target organisms. If deployed appropriately, microbial insecticides have capability to bring sustainability to global agriculture for food and food safety.

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