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Managing Vertebrate Invasive Species

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Genetic Options For The Control Of Invasive Vertebrate Pests: Prospects And Constraints, Ronald E. Thresher Aug 2007

Genetic Options For The Control Of Invasive Vertebrate Pests: Prospects And Constraints, Ronald E. Thresher

Managing Vertebrate Invasive Species

Conventional methods for the control of invasive pests are generally effective only on small-space scales or short-time frames. For most well established pest populations, longer-term efforts to manage the problem have been largely abandoned. I examine the potential of using “autocidal” genetic techniques to control terrestrial vertebrate pests, based on the inheritance through males of transgenes that either sterilize females or convert them into functional males (“daughterless”). Simulation analysis of two high profile pest species, the cane toad (Bufo marinus) in Australia and brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) in an urban environment, using realistic parameters, suggests that …


The Failed Regulatory System For Animal Imports Into The United States – And How To Fix It, Peter Jenkins Aug 2007

The Failed Regulatory System For Animal Imports Into The United States – And How To Fix It, Peter Jenkins

Managing Vertebrate Invasive Species

This paper provides a synopsis of the Defenders of Wildlife report entitled Broken Screens: The Regulation of Live Animal Imports in the United States, released in August 2007. That report assessed the complex federal system for regulating live wild animal imports as applied to the 2,241 non-native species that were identified in United States Fish and Wildlife Service records as being imported between 2000 and 2004, inclusive. The report describes the “coarse risk screening” conducted for those species by searching the scientific literature and United States and international databases. If one or more reliable sources indicated a species was …


Early Detection And Eradication Of Invading Rats, James C. Russell, Mick N. Clout, David R. Towns Aug 2007

Early Detection And Eradication Of Invading Rats, James C. Russell, Mick N. Clout, David R. Towns

Managing Vertebrate Invasive Species

Invasive rats continue to colonize rat-free islands around the world. To prevent rats from establishing on rat-free islands, especially following their eradication, biosecurity actions are required to enable early detection and elimination. Rats arrive at islands by both human transportation and by swimming. There are very little data on the rates of rat transportation by humans, although it is known that they are not negligible. There are better data on the distances rats can swim, allowing estimates to be made of the risk of reinvasion of islands close to source populations. Biosecurity prioritization must take place across all rat-free islands, …