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Use of captive predators for testing secondary hazards of rodenticides 1
Author(s) -
MARSH R. E.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
eppo bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.327
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1365-2338
pISSN - 0250-8052
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2338.1988.tb00378.x
Subject(s) - predation , toxicant , biology , predator , ecology , test (biology) , selection (genetic algorithm) , toxicology , computer science , medicine , toxicity , artificial intelligence
The use of captive predators for testing potential secondary hazards of rodenticides is becoming an increasingly important research method. The usefulness of the test results depends on how realistically the test protocol corresponds to natural events and encompasses such factors as the selection of the predator species, sample sizes, methods of dosing the primary species, and the feeding regime of primary consumers to the predators. While such studies can provide excellent data, extreme care must be exercised in the extrapolation of such data to field situations. Some major shortcomings in such extrapolations are: (1) it is difficult under field conditions to know how much toxicant is actually consumed and the amount retained by the rodents; (2) it is even more difficult to determine the frequency and number of primary target animals consumed by predators over time. Test protocol development must of necessity be somewhat subjective, but a strong commitment should prevail to keep the methodology as realistic as possible.