Suggesting the use of integrated methods for vole population management in alfalfa fields

Human-made agro-ecosystems lack negative feedback controls, which may result in rodent population explosions, causing considerable economic loss and thus increasing human-wildlife conflicts. The traditional solution is the extensive use of rodenticides, which have a negative impact on the environment. In Beit-Sheaan Valley, Israel, which is located on a major route for migrating birds, poisoning of voles may result in the death of birds that prey on the dead voles (e.g. storks and herons). In the present essay we discuss some integrated methods, based on the implementation of ecological principles in agro-ecosystems, that could be used to decrease the use of rodenticides. The first method is light interference during winter (long scotophase), which can result in the death of the social vole Microtus socialis kept in enclosures under natural conditions. Under laboratory conditions such interference causes a decrease in thermoregulatory ability in the cold. As light interference is a source of pollution, only active vole burrows should be illuminated. The second method involves using the mobile irrigation pipelines to flood the vole burrows and force them to escape into the open, where diurnal birds such as storks and herons will prey on them. The third method involves the use of nesting boxes for barn owls and stands for diurnal raptors, both of which prey on voles. The great advantage of using an integrated approach is that voles cannot become adapted to any one of the methods. Such integrated methods, together with appropriate treatment of alfalfa fields by farmers, can provide an efficient and sustainable pest control approach.