Do farming practices influence population dynamics of rodents? A case study of the multimammate field rats, Mastomys natalensis, in Tanzania

African Journal of Ecology

Volumn 45, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 293-301

  Massawe, A W ^a   Rwamugira, W ^a   Leirs, H ^b,c   Makundi, R H ^a   Mulungu, Loth S ^a  

^a SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE   (Tanzania)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP   (Belgium)

^c Danish Pest Infestation Laboratory   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Land preparation; Mastomys natalensis; Population dynamics

Indexed keywords

ABUNDANCE; CROPPING PRACTICE; INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT; MARK-RECAPTURE METHOD; PLOWING; POPULATION DENSITY; POPULATION DYNAMICS; RECRUITMENT; RODENT; SHIFTING CULTIVATION; TEMPORAL VARIATION;

AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; MOROGORO [TANZANIA]; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; TANZANIA;

MASTOMYS; MASTOMYS NATALENSIS; RATTUS; RODENTIA; ZEA MAYS;

EID: 34548029502     PISSN: 01416707     EISSN: 13652028     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2006.00709.x     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. Beck, A.M. Vogl, R.J. (1972) Effect of spring burning on rodent populations in bush prairie savanna. J. Mammol. 53, 336 346.
2. De Graaf, G. (1981) The Rodents of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban.
3. Green, M. Taylor, K.D. (1975) Preliminary experiments in habitat alteration as a means of controlling field rodents in Kenya. In: Biocontrol of Rodents (Eds L. Hansson B. Nilson Ecol. Bull. 19, 175 282.
4. Janzen, D.H. (1973) Tropical agro-ecosystems: these habitats are misunderstood by the temperate zone, mismanaged by the tropics. Science 182, 1212 1219.
5. Leirs, H., Verhagen, R. Verheyen, W. (1994) The basis of reproductive seasonality in Mastomys rats (Rodentia: Muridae). J. Trop. Ecol. 10, 55 66.
6. Leirs, H., Stenseth, N.C., Nichols, J.D., Hines, J.E., Verhagen, R. Verheyen, W. (1997a) Density-dependent and density independent factors regulate population dynamic of an Africa rodent. Nature 389, 176 180.
7. Leirs, H., Verhagen, R., Sabuni, C.A., Mwanjabe, P.S. Verheyen, W.N. (1997b) Spatial dynamics of Mastomys natalensis in a field-fallow mosaic in Tanzania. Belg. J. Zool. 127 (Suppl. 1), 29 38.
8. Makundi, R.H. (1999) Toward an Ecological approach for management of plague reservoirs and vectors in the Western Usambara Mountains in Tanzania, East Africa. In: Rodent Biology and Management (Eds Z.-B. Zhang, L. Hinds, G. Singleton Z.-W. Wang). ACIAR Technical Reports no. 45, Canberra.
9. Makundi, R.H, Oguge, N.O. Mwanjabe, P.S. (1999) Rodent pest management in East Africa - an ecological approach. In: Ecologically-based Rodent Management (Eds G. Singleton, L. Hinds, H. Leirs Z. Zhang). Australian Center For International Agricultural Research, Canberra, Australia.
10. Martin, G.H.G. Dickson, N.M. (1985). Small mammal abundance in relation to microhabitat in a dry sub-humid grassland in Kenya. Afr. J. Ecol. 23, 223 234.
11. Massawe, A. W., Leirs, H., Rwamugira, W. P. Makundi, R. H. (2003) Effect of land preparation methods on spatial distribution of rodents in crop fields. In: Rats, Mice and People: Rodent Biology and Management (Eds G. R. Singleton, L. A. Hinds, C. J. Krebs D. M. Spratt). Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra.
12. Milan, P.P. (1990) Evaluation of control methods for rats in Philippines coconut plantation. In: Current Mammalogy, Vol. 2 (Ed. E. E. Genoways). Plenum Publication Corporation, New York.
13. Moreno, R.A. (1985) Plant pathology in the small farm context. Am. Rev. Phytopathol. 23, 491 512.
14. Motobu, D.A. (1978) Effects of controlled slash burning on the mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufarufa). North. Sci. 52, 92 99.
15. Mwanjabe, P.S. (1993) The role of weeds on population dynamics of Mastomys natalensis in Chunya (Lake Rukwa) valley. In: Economic Importance and Control of Rodents in Tanzania (Ed. R. S. Machangu). Workshop Proceedings, 6-8 July 1992. Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro.
16. Myllymäki, A. (1989) Population dynamics of Mastomys natalensis (Smith) in relation to agricultural systems, incidence of damage and implications in control strategies. Final Report. Denmark-Tanzania Rodent control Project, DANIDA Mission-Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
17. Neal, B.R. (1970) The habitat distribution and activity of a rodent population in Western Uganda, with a particular reference to the effects of burning. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 81, 29 50.
18. Norman, D.W., Quedraogo, I. Newman, M.D. (1981) Crop processes. In: Farm and Village Production Systems in the Semi-arid Tropics of West Africa: An Interpretive Review of Research (Eds D. W. Norman, M. D. Newman I. Quedraogo). ICRISAT Res. Bull. 1, 50 65.
19. Taylor, K.D. (1968) An outbreak of rats in agricultural areas of Kenya in 1962. East Afr. Agric. For. J. 34, 66 77.
20. White, G.C., Anderson, D.R., Burnham, K.P. Otis, D.L. (1982) Capture-Recapture and Removal Methods for Sampling Closed Populations. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM.
21. Zhang, Z., Chen, A., Ning, Z. Huang, X. (1999) Rodent pest management in agricultural ecosystem in China. In: Ecologically-based Rodent Management (Eds G. R. Singleton, L. A. Hinds, H. Leirs Z. Zhibin). Aciar Monograph No. 59, Canberra.