Control rodents

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

10%
Certainty

10%
Harms

50%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Many rodents feed on seeds. Others that feed on tree bark may cause tree death by girdling (damaging round tree trunks). Controlling rodent populations can minimize seed predation or girdling and thus increase the abundance or reduce death of some plant species.

Study locations

Key messages

One controlled study in New Zealand¹ found that rodent control decreased native plant species richness and did not affect total plant species richness.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A controlled study in temperate mixed forest in New Zealand (Burns et al. 2011) found that rodent control decreased native plant species richness, but did not affect total plant species richness. The number of native plant species/plot was lower in rodent control plots (33) than untreated plots (38). The numbers of non-native plant species/plot (untreated: 4; rodent control: 3) and total vascular plant species/plot (untreated: 40; rodent control: 37) were similar between treatments. Plants were monitored in 400 m² plots in each of 14 untreated and 27 rodent control forest fragments. Control was carried out using trap stations, largely for ship rats Rattus rattus and house mice Mus musculus.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Burns B., Floyd C., Smale M. & Arnold G. (2011) Effects of forest fragment management on vegetation condition and maintenance of canopy composition in a New Zealand pastoral landscape. Austral Ecology, 36, 153-166.

Please cite as:

Agra, H., Schowanek, S., Carmel, Y., Smith, R.K. & Ne’eman, G. (2020) Forest Conservation. Pages 323-366 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.