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Anticoagulant Rodenticides and Wildlife: Introduction

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Book cover Anticoagulant Rodenticides and Wildlife

Part of the book series: Emerging Topics in Ecotoxicology ((ETEP,volume 5))

Abstract

Rodents have interacted with people since the beginning of systematic food storage by humans in the early Neolithic era. Such interactions have had adverse outcomes such as threats to human health, spoiling and consumption of food sources, damage to human infrastructure and detrimental effects on indigenous island wildlife (through inadvertent anthropogenic assisted introductions). These socio/economic and environmental impacts illustrate the clear need to control populations of commensal rodents. Different methods have been applied historically but the main means of control in the last decades is through the application of rodenticides, mainly anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) that inhibit blood clotting. The so-called First Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (FGARs) proved highly effective but rodents increasingly developed resistance. This led to a demand for more effective alternative compounds and paved the way to the development of Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs). These were more acutely toxic and persistent, making them more effective but also increasing the risks of exposure of non-target species and secondary poisoning of predatory species. SGARs often fail the environmental thresholds of different regulatory frameworks because of these negative side-effects, but their use is still permitted because of the overwhelming societal needs for rodent control and the lack of effective alternatives. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of the scientific advancements in assessment of environmental exposure, effects and risks of currently used ARs. This is discussed in relation to the societal needs for rodent control, including risk mitigation and development of alternatives.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Toxicology, Wageningen University, Box 8000, NL6700 EA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Nico W. van den Brink

  2. Environment and Climate Change Canada, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, Delta, BC, V4K 3N2, Canada

    John E. Elliott

  3. Natural Environment Research Council, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, LEC, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, UK

    Richard F. Shore

  4. U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    Barnett A. Rattner

Authors
  1. Nico W. van den Brink
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  2. John E. Elliott
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  3. Richard F. Shore
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  4. Barnett A. Rattner
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Correspondence to Nico W. van den Brink .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Toxicology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Nico W. van den Brink

  2. Environment and Climate Change Canada, Science and Technology Branch, Delta, British Columbia, Canada

    John E. Elliott

  3. Natural Environment Research Council, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Richard F. Shore

  4. U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland, USA

    Barnett A. Rattner

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van den Brink, N.W., Elliott, J.E., Shore, R.F., Rattner, B.A. (2018). Anticoagulant Rodenticides and Wildlife: Introduction. In: van den Brink, N., Elliott, J., Shore, R., Rattner, B. (eds) Anticoagulant Rodenticides and Wildlife. Emerging Topics in Ecotoxicology, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64377-9_1

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