Citation:

Nogeire, T., J. Lawler, N. Schumaker, B. Cypher, AND S. Phillips. Land use as a Driver of Patterns of Rodenticide Exposure in Modeled Kit Fox Populations. PLOS ONE . Public Library of Science, San Francisco, CA, , 15, (2015).

Impact/Purpose:

The EPA Office of Pesticide Products regulates pesticides, including rodenticides. Rodenticide impacts on non-target organisms are one criteria that is weighed when regulatory decisions are made. But rodenticides can impact legally protected species, such as the endangered San Joaquin kit fox, and in these cases the chemical’s effects on population viability become a concern. Population viability analysis (PVA) models are widely used to forecast population trends and viability into the future. This manuscript describes the improvement of PVA models through the addition of biological realistic detail, and features that make the models more relevant to managers and regulators. The talk will illustrate some of the complex spatial population dynamics of the kit fox, as affected by climate change, land use change, and rodenticide use.

Description:

Although rodenticides are increasingly regulated, they nonetheless cause poisonings in many non-target wildlife species. Second-generation anticoagualant rodenticide use is common in agricultural and residential lands. Here, we use an individual-based population model to assess the probable effects of rodenticide poisoning on the endangered San Joaquin kit fox. We find that 36% of the modeled foxes become exposed, resulting in a 7-18% decline in the range-wide kit fox population that can be linked to rodenticide use. Exposure of kit foxes in low-density urban areas accounted for 70% of the population-wide impact of the rodenticides. We conclude that the impacts of pesticide applications to non-target kit foxes could be greatly reduced by preventing the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides in low-density developed areas near vulnerable populations.

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