Estudio de la estructura y diversidad de dos comunidades de pequeños roedores en agroecosistemas de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

MIÑO, MARIELA; CAVIA, REGINO; GÓMEZ VILLAFAÑE, ISABEL; BILENCA, DAVID; CITTADINO, ALEJANDRO; BUSCH, MARÍA

BOLETIN DE LA SOCIEDAD DE BIOLOGIA DE CONCEPCION

Sociedad de Biología de Concepción

Lugar: chile; Año: 2001 vol. 72 p. 67 - 75

0037-850X

Rodent infestationsare considered a problem to poultry farms in many countries of the world. Theircontrol requires some ecological research such as knowing the rodent communitycomposition and the spatial and temporal distribution of the species. In orderto provide information that can be used for the design of control programmes,the small rodent communities and the distribution of species in commercialpoultry farms in Argentina were characterised. Thirty farms were seasonallysampled during two years. Three habitats were considered: sheds, perimeters andinterphases. This third habitat was considered when sheds were located nearerthan 2 m from perimeters, and was only present in 16 out of 30 farms. Foursylvan native species, Calomys laucha,Akodon azarae, Oligoryzomys flavescens and Calomysmusculinus, and the exotic Musdomesticus were captured at farms. A.azarae was more abundant in interphases and perimeters and M. domesticus in sheds. The otherspecies didn?t show differences among habitats. Sylvan species' abundance wasgreater in autumn-winter, whereas M.domesticus did not vary along the year. Sheds of farms with interphaseswere more probably infested with sylvan species than sheds of farms withoutinterphases. M. domesticus did notdiffer between those groups of farms. According to these results a differentkind of management is needed to control the different groups of species. Theauthors suggest avoiding building breeding sheds close to the farm perimetersor keeping vegetation low in the interphase area to control sylvan rodentspecies. For the control of M. domesticusis probably needed the periodical application of rodenticides.