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An easy way to reduce PIT-tag loss in rodents

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Passive integrated transponders (PIT-tags) have been shown to be a reliable method for individually marking rodents in field studies. The loss rates of PIT-tags vary, depending on the species, from 3.6 to 7.2%. We used PIT-tags to individually mark a population of edible dormice. Due to a relatively high loss rate of transponders in the first year (7.4%) we used a tissue adhesive to seal the punctuation wound in the second year. With this method we could reduce the tag-loss rate to 2.2%. We therefore recommend using a tissue adhesive, which is easy and fast to apply, after injecting a transponder.

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Acknowledgments

We thank K. Kürbisch and B. Rotter for their help with the field work, C. Bieber for helping in numerous ways with this field project, and the Austrian Forestral Agency for the admission to use the study site. This project was supported by the city of Vienna, the province of Lower Austria, and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, Project P20534-B17). We declare that the experiments were approved by the University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna ethics committee and comply with the current laws of Austria, where the experiment was performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160, Vienna, Austria

    Karin Lebl & Thomas Ruf

Authors
  1. Karin Lebl
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  2. Thomas Ruf
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Correspondence to Karin Lebl.

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Lebl, K., Ruf, T. An easy way to reduce PIT-tag loss in rodents. Ecol Res 25, 251–253 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-009-0629-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-009-0629-y

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