Land Use as a Driver of Patterns of Rodenticide Exposure in Modeled Kit Fox Populations.

ABSTRACT: Although rodenticides are increasingly regulated, they nonetheless cause poisonings in many non-target wildlife species. Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide use is common in agricultural and residential landscapes. Here, we use an individual-based population model to assess potential population-wide effects of rodenticide exposures on the endangered San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica). We estimate likelihood of rodenticide exposure across the species range for each land cover type based on a database of reported pesticide use and literature. Using a spatially-explicit population model, we find that 36% of modeled kit foxes are likely exposed, resulting in a 7-18% decline in the range-wide modeled kit fox population that can be linked to rodenticide use. Exposures of kit fo

SUBMITTER: Nogeire TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4564287 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature