Integrated management of rodents: A Southeast Asian and Australian perspective

This paper discusses the concept of integrated pest management (IPM) and considers the progress that has been made towards effective implementation of IPM for rodent pests in agricultural systems in Southeast Asia and Australia. Unfortunately, progress with the management of rodents lags considerably behind IPM for insect pests and diseases of crops. Too often, recommended management practices lack scientific rigour, instead they are based on frequent reiteration of a concept which results in it being accepted as dogma. From a rodent management perspective, IPM in these regions is better described as perceived integrated management (PIM). Two case studies, one from Southeast Asia and one from Australia, are presented to demonstrate how replicated, manipulative field experiments with appropriate controls can redress this situation. The first study is on the rice field rat in West Java. The second study is on mouse plagues in southeastern Australia. In each case, the IPM programs are built around detailed descriptive studies of the population ecology of the pest species. The challenge lies ahead for rodent wildlife managers to not only develop effective rodent IPM but also to integrate these management actions with existing IPM programs of non-mammalian pests. From the perspective of a wildlife biologist, other pressing challenges for establishing effective and sustained control of rodents in Southeast Asia, were identified. These were the lack of appropriate tertiary training in wildlife management, the weak infra-structure for research on rodent pests, and the need to develop effective extension for programs on the management of rodents.