2003 International Conference:
Rodent Biology and Management 10-14 February 2003
Synopsis
The conference, originally planned for Bogor, Indonesia in October 2002, was postponed and re-located to Canberra following the Bali bombing.
Despite the late change, 145 delegates from 34 countries were able to attend the conference. There were 2 parallel sessions over 4 days with 92 oral presentations and 52 poster presentations. The conference generated extensive and widespread media coverage.
The Australian Commonwealth Minister for Science, The Hon. Peter McGauran, MP, officially opened the conference. Other dignitaries present included the Ambassador for Vietnam, His Excellency Mr Vu Chi Cong; the Minister-Counsellor for Myanmar, Mr Thet Win; the Director of ACIAR, Mr Peter Core; Chief of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Dr Steve Morton; the Deputy Chief of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Mr Alan Kearns; and the Director of the Pest Animal Control CRC, Dr Tony Peacock.
The conference consisted of ten symposia: Disease; Conservation; Behaviour; Management-field; Population ecology and modelling; Sociology and economics of rodent management; Management-urban rodents and rodenticide resistance; Taxonomy and systematics; Rodent biology-contrasting perspectives, and Predator-prey interactions. Some highlights of the conference can be illustrated with the 8 plenary lectures:
- Mike Begon: Disease: health effects on humans, population effects on rodents
- Giovanni Amori: Rodents on islands: a conservation challenge
- Charles Krebs: How does rodent behaviour impact on population dynamics?
- Herwig Leirs: Management of rodents in crops: The Pied Piper and his Orchestra
- Roger Pech, Stephen Davis and Grant Singleton: Outbreaks of rodents in agricultural systems: pest control problems or symptoms of dysfunctional ecosystems?
- Murray Efford, B.M. Fitzgerald and P.R. Wilson: The role of aseasonal breeding in eruptions of feral house mice inhabiting New Zealand forests
- David Cowan, Roger Quy, and Mark Lambert: Ecological perspectives on the management of commensal rodents
- Ken Aplin, Terry Chesser and Jose ten Have: Evolutionary biology of the genus Rattus: profile of an archetypal rodent pest
A book entitled Rats, Mice and People: Rodent Biology and Management, edited by Singleton, Hinds, Krebs and Spratt and published by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), was officially launched at the conference by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Hon. Christine Gallus, MP. The Chief Executive Officer of CSIRO, Dr Geoff Garrett, also attended the Book Launch.
The papers presented at the conference, and published in the book, demonstrated that the results from basic research in the biological and social sciences now are exerting a major influence in our battle against the ravages and impacts of pest rodent species. Additionally, studies on the conservation biology of rodents have raised the spectre of the ecological services provided by this important group of animals. Ecological studies are essential to enable us to distinguish between the pest and non-pest status of different rodent species in different geographical areas and to target our control technologies appropriately. We have a responsibility to seek to balance the management of pest species with the conservation of beneficial species of rodents.
Topics of research that have been largely ignored by ecologists are parasites and diseases. There has been too little effort on the role of disease in limiting or regulating rodent populations, and on the impact of rodents on the health of humans and their livestock. We see this as an important area of growth over the next decade. It is apparent that rodents shall continue to be of major importance as we seek to understand their biology and as we continue to develop new strategies for ecologically based management. In each of our respective research and/or extension fields, advances are being made in concepts and theory, in development and application of new technology and methodology, and in data capture and storage.
An important theme to emerge at this conference is that the lives of rats, mice and people are often interwoven, and scientists and extension staff alike must not ignore this relationship. We are encouraged by the number of papers that considered the influence of human actions on rodent population dynamics, the effect of rodents on human health, the importance of sociological and cultural factors on adoption of rodent management, and the effect of rodent management actions on the sustainability of agricultural production and, most importantly, on the environment. Rodent systematics is one important topic that was missing from the 1st ICRBM held in Beijing in October 1998. Studies of the taxonomic status of rodents had a high profile at the 2nd ICRBM because of the recognition that we need to clearly define which species are causing problems in which regions, so that management can be geared to their particular ecology and demographic machinery.
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and the Central Research Institute for Food Crops (CRIFC) co-hosted the 2nd ICRBM and the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) was the main sponsor. The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), through their International Seminar Support Scheme, and the Netherlands-based, European Union financed Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), through their seminar support scheme, provided funds to support the attendance of scientists from Asia, Australia and Africa. The success of the conference heartened the Organising Committee. The Committee met in Canberra and plans are already underway for the 3rd ICRBM, which will be held sometime in the second half of 2006. The venue is still to be decided but already we have offers in from both Lao PDR and Vietnam to host the conference. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the many people who worked so hard to ensure the 2nd ICRBM was a success. We look forward to renewing acquaintances and establishing new friendships in 2006!
Lyn Hinds, Grant Singleton, Alice Kenney and Charley Krebs
(on behalf of the ICRBM organising committee) 
Conference Organising Committee
Prof Charles Krebs
(Honorary Conference Chairman)
Department of Zoology
University of British Columbia
6270 University Blvd.
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4
CANADA
Email: krebs@zoology.ubc.ca
Dr Grant Singleton
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
GPO Box 284
Canberra ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
Email: Grant.Singleton@csiro.au
Dr Lyn Hinds
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
GPO Box 284
Canberra ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
Email: Lyn.Hinds@csiro.au
Dr Herwig Leirs
Evolutionary Biology Group,
University of Antwerp (RUCA)
Groenenborgerlaan 171
Antwerpen B-2020
BELGIUM
Email: herwig.leirs@ua.ac.be
Dr Dale Nolte
USDA/APHIS/ADC
National Wildlife Research Centre
9701 Bloomberg Street
Olympia WA98512
USA
Email: Dale.L.Nolte@usda.gov
Prof Valery Neronov
Laboratory of Landscape Ecology of Mammals
Institute of Ecology of Russian Academy of Sciences
Leninski Prospect 33
Moscow 117071
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Email: mab.ru@g23.relcom.ru
Dr S Sudarmaji
Research Institute for Rice
Central Research Institute for Food Crops
JL Raya 9 Sukamandi Subang 41256
West Java
INDONESIA
Email: sudarmaji@vision.net.id
Dr Mauricio Lima
Depto. de Ecologia,
Center for Advanced Studies
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Casilla 114-D
Santiago, CP 6513677
CHILE
Email: mlima@genes.bio.puc.cl
Dr Vera Voznessenskaya
A.N.Severtzov Instit Ecology & Evolution
33, Leninski prospect
Moscow Russia 117071
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Email: vera@voznes.msk.ru
Dr Steven Belmain
Natural Resources Institute
Central Avenue
Chatham Maritime
Kent ME4 4TB
UNITED KINGDOM
Email: S.R.Belmain@gre.ac.uk
Dr Robert Machangu
(Rodent Control Centre, Tanzania)
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Rodent Research Project
PO Box 3110
Morogoro
TANZANIA
Email: machangu@suanet.ac.tz
Prof Zhibin Zhang
Institute of Zoology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
19 Zhonguancun Road
Beijing 100080
P.R. CHINA
Email: zhangzb@panda.ioz.ac.cn
Mr Peter Brown
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
GPO Box 284
Canberra ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
Email: Peter.Brown@csiro.au
Oral and Poster Presentations Listings
The complete listing of presentations is available as an
Acrobat pdf file.
Conference Photos
The following photos were taken at the ICRBM event. There
are images from the conference opening, the book launch as
well as the conference dinner. Please click on an image to
view the full size picture in a new window. Close that window
to return to this page.
Rodent Book Released
 Rats,
Mice and People: Rodent Biology and Management, edited
by Singleton, Hinds, Krebs and Spratt (published by ACIAR,
2003), is available for $50.00 AUD including postage. The
cost to developing countries will be discounted.
The book was officially launched at the 2003 ICRBM by the
Parliamentary Secretary to the Australian Minister for Foreign
Affairs, The Hon. Christine Gallus, MP.
Contact Rodent-inquiries@csiro.au
for more information.
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