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Anticoagulant rodenticides in urban bobcats: exposure, risk factors and potential effects based on a 16-year study

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Abstract

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are increasingly recognized as a threat to nontarget wildlife. High exposure to ARs has been documented globally in nontarget predatory species and linked to the high prevalence of an ectoparasitic disease, notoedric mange. In southern California, mange associated with AR exposure has been the proximate cause of a bobcat (Lynx rufus) population decline. We measured AR exposure in bobcats from two areas in southern California, examining seasonal, demographic and spatial risk factors across landscapes including natural and urbanized areas. The long-term study included bobcats sampled over a 16-year period (1997–2012) and a wide geographic area. We sampled blood (N = 206) and liver (N = 172) to examine exposure ante- and post-mortem. We detected high exposure prevalence (89 %, liver; 39 %, blood) and for individuals with paired liver and blood data (N = 64), 92 % were exposed. Moreover, the animals with the most complete sampling were exposed most frequently to three or more compounds. Toxicant exposure was associated with commercial, residential, and agricultural development. Bobcats of both sexes and age classes were found to be at high risk of exposure, and we documented fetal transfer of multiple ARs. We found a strong association between certain levels of exposure (ppm), and between multiple AR exposure events, and notoedric mange. AR exposure was prevalent throughout both regions sampled and throughout the 16-year time period in the long-term study. ARs pose a substantial threat to bobcats, and likely other mammalian and avian predators, living at the urban-wildland interface.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (Graduate Research Fellowship), Summerlee Foundation, Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society, National Science Foundation Ecology of Infectious Disease research program (NSF EF-0723676), University of California, Los Angeles, U.S. Geological Survey, Panthera, Dan and Susan Gottlieb, the G2 gallery, Barry Rowan, the California Mediterranean Research and Learning Center, Julie Newsome, and Joel and Kian Schulman. We thank C. Schoonmaker, E.C. York, J. Sikich, D. Fraser, C. Reddell, I. Kelsey, K. Fragiacomo, J. Warner, R. Alonso, R. Mowry, J. Kraft, J. Purdum, D. Newell, and B. Nerhus for field assistance. For veterinary support in OCSA, we thank S. Weldy and K. Krause. Thanks to UCLA ATS consulting and S. Carver for help with data analysis. We appreciate all support and editorial comments provided by P. Jackson, T. Smith, J. Lloyd-Smith, and anonymous reviewers. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply an endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Conflict of interest

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or preparation of the manuscript and no competing interests exist.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    L. E. K. Serieys, T. C. Armenta & R. K. Wayne

  2. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, National Park Service, Thousand Oaks, CA, 91360, USA

    J. G. Moriarty & S. P. D. Riley

  3. U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Thousand Oaks, CA, 91360, USA

    E. E. Boydston

  4. U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Carlsbad, CA, 92008, USA

    L. M. Lyren

  5. California Animal Health and Food Safety, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    R. H. Poppenga

  6. Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    K. R. Crooks

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  1. L. E. K. Serieys
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  2. T. C. Armenta
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Serieys, L.E.K., Armenta, T.C., Moriarty, J.G. et al. Anticoagulant rodenticides in urban bobcats: exposure, risk factors and potential effects based on a 16-year study. Ecotoxicology 24, 844–862 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-015-1429-5

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