Commensal Rodents in the City of Buenos Aires: A Temporal, Spatial, and Environmental Analysis at the Whole City Level

CAVIA R; E. MUSCHETO,; CUETO G. R.; SUAREZ O.V

ECOHEALTH

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2015

1612-9202

Commensal rodents are some of the main vertebrate pests in urban areas; however, knowledge about factors that favor them at large scales is scarce. We studied spatial and temporal variations in rodent infestationlevels at the whole city scale using the complaints of rodent sightings and questionnaire surveys to cityneighbors. Demographic, socio-economic, and environmental characteristics handled with a geographic in-formation system were evaluated as possible indicators of rodent infestation. The number of rodent sightingswas lower in months with low mean temperature with two months time lag and higher in areas with highnumber of meat and metal industries. Rodent infestation estimated by the questionnaire survey showed spatialautocorrelation defining large areas with similar infestation levels. It decreased when the apartment densityincreased, while increased when the proportion of area occupied by shantytowns, the density of meat in-dustries, and the proportion of area occupied by moderate urban development increased. Rodent controlprograms at the whole city level would have better results if public health pest agencies and/or governments willfocus the efforts on areas with more precarious conditions as well as the industrial areas in the cold seasonwhen have lower rodent abundances