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Scavenging of rodent carcasses following simulated mortality due to field applications of anticoagulant rodenticide

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Abstract

Worldwide, agricultural uses of anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) cause poisonings of non-target wildlife as observed in France where bromadiolone is used to control water vole outbreaks. Following bromadiolone field application, a part of the vole population may die aboveground of the treated plots and thus, can represent an important risk of secondary poisoning for scavengers. In this study, water voles were trapped in a non-treated area and their carcasses were placed aboveground in plots located in an area where a vole outbreak occurred. Then, the environmental persistence, the diurnal and nocturnal scavenging rates of water vole carcasses were assessed in autumn 2011 and in spring 2012. The diurnal scavenger species were also identified. The environmental persistence of the carcasses to reach at least a scavenging rate of 87.5 % was 0.5–1.5 day. The average rates of diurnal and nocturnal scavenging ranged from 67 to 100 % and 5 to 100 %, respectively. They depended on the composition of the scavenger community present near the monitored plots; diurnal scavenging rates being higher with corvids than with raptors. In autumn, the red kite and the common buzzard were the main scavengers in one of the plots, what suggests a high risk of poisoning for these raptors during post-nuptial migration. So, the collection of vole carcasses after treatments and the limitations of bromadiolone applications when high densities of predators/scavengers are observed could be implemented to mitigate the risks of secondary poisoning.

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Acknowledgments

We thank V. Cattet, N. Marguet and D. Cassard for facilities during autumn and spring experiments, P. Delaunay, L. Douard, L. Hibon, C., J. and G. Montaz, R. Perdrix, Y. Prat-Mairet, D. Rieffel, the farmers of the ZELAC and of La Latette, and the staff of the SAGIR network and of the FREDON Franche-Comté for the help and the support given during the catching of water voles. This work has been carried out in the framework of the Zone atelier (LTER) Arc jurassien, http://zaaj.univ-fcomte.fr and was financially supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (RODENT programme, contract ANR-2009-CESA-008-01).

Ethical standards

The experiments presented in this article comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chrono-Environment, UMR UFC/CNRS 6249 Usc INRA, University of Franche-Comté Place Leclerc, 25030, Besançon Cedex, France

    Julie Montaz, Marion Jacquot & Michaël Coeurdassier

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  1. Julie Montaz
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  2. Marion Jacquot
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  3. Michaël Coeurdassier
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Correspondence to Michaël Coeurdassier.

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Montaz, J., Jacquot, M. & Coeurdassier, M. Scavenging of rodent carcasses following simulated mortality due to field applications of anticoagulant rodenticide. Ecotoxicology 23, 1671–1680 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1306-7

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