Biological and behavioural studies of rodents as a basis for control

Domestic rodents, particularly those living in urban populations, represent a serious public health problem, and effective control measures are required to deal with this threat to human health. Because of the characteristic interactions between individual animals, certain behaviour patterns occur in rodent populations that are of particular concern to control biologists. The genus Rattus is an extremely diverse group whose ecological requirements are variable and flexible, while the genus Mus, on account of its small size, limited range, and modest requirements in terms of food and water, is also very difficult to control. For any control operation a knowledge of the growth dynamics of domestic rodent populations is needed; after a period of logarithmic growth, population increases cease when the habitat is fully exploited. Consequently, control operations that merely remove some animals lead only to renewed population growth. Trapping, poisoning, and predation are traditional control measures of this kind. Environmental modification is a more certain, but more difficult, approach. The use of chemosterilants offers some hope of radical control in the future, but at present, although some field trials have been made, these substances are not available for general use, one reason being their lack of specificity. Another problem connected with the use of chemosterilants is that, on account of the sexual behaviour and physiology of domestic rodents, it would be necessary to reach nearly 100% of the population to obtain effective control.