Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?

Rice field rat’s population occasionally undergoes widespread eruption in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar following extreme weather event. Asynchronous or aseasonal planting of crops in response to unusual weather events can extend the period that high quality food is available to r...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Htwe, N. M., Singleton, G. R., Sluydts, V., Hinds, L. A.
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Julius Kühn-Institut 2011-10-01
Series:Julius-Kühn-Archiv
Subjects:
_version_ 1818927339396923392
author Htwe, N. M.
Singleton, G. R.
Sluydts, V.
Hinds, L. A.
author_facet Htwe, N. M.
Singleton, G. R.
Sluydts, V.
Hinds, L. A.
author_sort Htwe, N. M.
collection DOAJ
description Rice field rat’s population occasionally undergoes widespread eruption in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar following extreme weather event. Asynchronous or aseasonal planting of crops in response to unusual weather events can extend the period that high quality food is available to rodents. Consequently, rodents may extend their breeding season and a population eruption is more likely to occur. However, it is unclear the association between the quality and quantity of food and the reproductive success of female rice field rats. An improved understanding of the effects of food availability and quality on rodent reproduction could enable better forecasts of rodent outbreaks in response to unusual weather events which could lead to asynchronous or aseasonal planting of crops. We studied how the breeding performance of the rice field rat, Rattus argentiventer, responded to food supply at different stages of the rice crop in the Philippines. Our results suggest that rice plants at the booting to ripening stages provided high quality food for rice field rats and it drove higher conception rate of female rats at these stages of the rice crop. We contend that the extension of the growing season by 3 to 4 weeks provides high quality food for rodents for an extended period, which in turn provides sufficient conditions for a population eruption. Therefore we recommend that synchronous planting is the effective proactive action for rodent management.
first_indexed 2024-12-20T03:11:26Z
format Article
id doaj.art-ade254060fa842dd8f82b6cfe1745fff
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1868-9892
language deu
last_indexed 2024-12-20T03:11:26Z
publishDate 2011-10-01
publisher Julius Kühn-Institut
record_format Article
series Julius-Kühn-Archiv
spelling doaj.art-ade254060fa842dd8f82b6cfe1745fff2022-12-21T19:55:28ZdeuJulius Kühn-InstitutJulius-Kühn-Archiv1868-98922011-10-0143217417510.5073/jka.2011.432.095Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?Htwe, N. M.Singleton, G. R.Sluydts, V.Hinds, L. A.Rice field rat’s population occasionally undergoes widespread eruption in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar following extreme weather event. Asynchronous or aseasonal planting of crops in response to unusual weather events can extend the period that high quality food is available to rodents. Consequently, rodents may extend their breeding season and a population eruption is more likely to occur. However, it is unclear the association between the quality and quantity of food and the reproductive success of female rice field rats. An improved understanding of the effects of food availability and quality on rodent reproduction could enable better forecasts of rodent outbreaks in response to unusual weather events which could lead to asynchronous or aseasonal planting of crops. We studied how the breeding performance of the rice field rat, Rattus argentiventer, responded to food supply at different stages of the rice crop in the Philippines. Our results suggest that rice plants at the booting to ripening stages provided high quality food for rice field rats and it drove higher conception rate of female rats at these stages of the rice crop. We contend that the extension of the growing season by 3 to 4 weeks provides high quality food for rodents for an extended period, which in turn provides sufficient conditions for a population eruption. Therefore we recommend that synchronous planting is the effective proactive action for rodent management.asynchronous plantingbreedingRattus argentiventerrice field ratsrodent outbreaks
spellingShingle Htwe, N. M.
Singleton, G. R.
Sluydts, V.
Hinds, L. A.
Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?
Julius-Kühn-Archiv
asynchronous planting
breeding
Rattus argentiventer
rice field rats
rodent outbreaks
title Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?
title_full Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?
title_fullStr Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?
title_full_unstemmed Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?
title_short Are rodent population eruptions in southeast Asia associated with quantity or quality of food?
title_sort are rodent population eruptions in southeast asia associated with quantity or quality of food
topic asynchronous planting
breeding
Rattus argentiventer
rice field rats
rodent outbreaks
work_keys_str_mv AT htwenm arerodentpopulationeruptionsinsoutheastasiaassociatedwithquantityorqualityoffood
AT singletongr arerodentpopulationeruptionsinsoutheastasiaassociatedwithquantityorqualityoffood
AT sluydtsv arerodentpopulationeruptionsinsoutheastasiaassociatedwithquantityorqualityoffood
AT hindsla arerodentpopulationeruptionsinsoutheastasiaassociatedwithquantityorqualityoffood