Range Measurement and Habitat Suitability Map of Norway Rat In The Highly Developed

Urban Environment

Dauda Taofik O12

Shahrul Anuar Mohd S1 Liyana K

1 and Wan Mohd Muhiyuddin Wan Ibrahim

3

1School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia Pulau Penang 11800 Malaysia

2Institute of Agricultural Research and Training Obafemi Awolowo University PMB 5029 Ibadan

Nigeria

3School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 Pulau Pinang

Corresponding author ndash taofikdaudusmmy

Running head Ratsrsquo RangeHabitat Suitability Map

Abstrak Kajian kesesuaian habitat (KS) sangat diperlukan apabila habitat haiwan telah

diubahsuai atau haiwan berhijrah ke habitat yang sangat berbeza daripada habitat asli mereka

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menaksir KS dan mengabungkan system maklumat geografi untuk

Rattus norvegicus di kawasan perbandaran yang sangat membangun Menggunakan data

daripada Pasar Campbell dan Berek Polisdi George Town Malaysia kawasan rayau (kaedah

Minimum Convex Polygon-MCP 100 95 MCP and 95 Harmonic Mean) dianggarkan

Kawasan rayau tikus jantan di Pasar Campbell mencapai asimptot pada 96 isyarat radio dengan

sedikit peningkatan (kawasan rayau = 13352m2 titik pusat = 2939m

2) Tikus betina mencapai

asimptot pada 62 isyarat radio (kawasan rayau = 1338m2 titik pusat = 917m

2) Di Pasar

Campbell tikus jantan muncul pada jam 1900 setiap hari manakala betina muncul pada jam 2000

tetapi di Berek Polis masa kebiasaan kemunculan untuk jantan pada jam 2000 dan betina pada

jam 2200 Carta raster Rattus norvegicus menunjukkan titik tumpuan tikus boleh dikategorikan

kepada 4 zon (pasar rumah kedai kediaman dan kawasan tumpuan awam) Carta raster yang

diseragamkan memisahkan kawasan utama titik tumpuan tikus aalah di pasar dengan frekuensi

tikus tertinggi iaitu 225 Semua analisis kesesuaian habitat ternasuk kawasan dibangunkan

kawasan tong sampah sumber air dan tapak semulajadi dalam kajian ini mempamerkan corak

struktur (peningkatan atau penurunan monotonik) kesesuaian habitat

Kata kunci asimptot algoritma isyarat raster monotonik perangkap

Abstract Habitat suitability (HS) study is essential when animalsrsquo habitat has been altered or

animals migrate to an habitat different from their natural habitat This study was carried out to

assess HS and integrate geographic information system of such for Rattus norvegicus in highly

developed urban environment Using data from both Campbell Market and Police Quarter of

George Town Malaysia home range (through 100 Minimum Convex Polygon-MCP 100 95

MCP and 95 Harmonic Mean) were estimated Home range for male rats at Campbell market

reached an asymptote of 96 radio fixes and with a slight increase (home range = 13352m2 core

area = 2939m2) Female rats reached asymptote at 62 radio fixes (home range = 1338m

2 core

area = 917m2) At Campbell market male rats emerged 1900 hours every day while female

emerged at 2000 hours but at Police quarter the most common time of emergence for male is

2000 hours and for female is 2200 Raster charts of the rattus showed that rats hots spots can be

grouped into 4 zones (market shop houses settlement general places) The standardized raster

chart isolated the major rallying points of the rats (hot spots) as the market with the highest ratsrsquo

frequencies of 255 All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water

source and nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern (monotonic

increase or decrease) of habitat suitability

Keywords Asymptote algorithm fixes raster monotonic Trap

Introduction

Rodent control have been occasioned by their increasing population which had consequently led

to vast increase in their economic importance (Traweger and Slotta-Backmayr 2005) They have

however been proved useful in laboratory model for physiology and genetic studies (Wang et al

2011) Globally the current and prominent strategy of rodents control and management is the use

of Trap and rodenticides (Trawerger et al 2006 VanAdrichem et al 2013) These strategies had

been on use for decades (Belmain et al 2013 Bell et al 2011 VanAdrichem et al 2013) hence

they are gradually becoming ineffective because rodents are developing ways round these

strategies (Roomaney et al 2012) There is therefore a growing need for an all encompassing or

integrated rodents control strategy like been advocated round the globe (Frantz 1988 Frantz and

Davis 1991 Spragins 2002) Preliminary survey of rats population in the urban center clearly

established a stable rat population in distinctive colonies which do not mingle with other colonies

as obtained in cities round the world (Patergnani et al 2010 Wood 2006 Yasuma and Andau

1999) Normally home range and movement of city rats are smaller than in their natural habitat but

can provide useful information for the all encompassing approach to rodents control strategy The

suitable habitat conditions in the city where the rats can get all the resources needed made the

rats not to linger far from their nestsource Modification in the urban landscape also restrict ratsrsquo

movements to different places (Dickman and Doncaster 1987) These works and preliminary

survey notwithstanding few or non of them have integrated the application of Geographical

Information System (GIS) into home range studies of rat Knowledge regarding the home range of

this commensal rat in the urban area is necessary as it enhance our expertise in the control and

management of the population as well as provide basis for integrative pest management

The aim of using GIS is to gain information concerning the potential distribution of R

norvegicus within the zone (developed urban environment) and relative to their spatial positions In

addition GIS will help to ease the researcherrsquos effort in searching analyzing and presenting the

data map Thus GIS provides powerful automated tools for integrated rodent control strategy and

can enhance better understanding about the ecology of this animal in developed urban

environment The objective of this study was therefore to measure the movement and the home

range size of Rattus norvegicus in the Campbell market and human settlement of the developed

urban environment and to establish a GIS distribution map of Rattus norvegicus in relation to the

different habitat This study also aim at developing an integrated habitat suitability mapping using

the GIS (Geographical Information System)

METHODOLOGY

This study was conducted in Georgetown of Malaysia using both Campbell market (Site 1) and the

Police quarters (Site 2) Campbell market built in 1947 is a wet market for chicken duck fish

pork as well as others aquatic species and it covers an area of 5000m2

Activity in the market

usually commence as early as 600 am to 700 am when the market become busier with human

activities Police quarter on the other hand was built in 1986 and it covers an area of 20000 m2

The police quarters compose of four blocks in the housing area with facilities like a lsquosuraursquo (small

mosque) kindergarten and a badminton court Using Kenward (2001) method home range

measurement of the rats and rat activities (in terms of time of leaving nest and returning) were

captured for two months (March to April 2008) including six days of intensive radio-tracking during

which the mean movements of the rats were recorded for every one hour (2 -4 ratstracking)

These 2 months were found (through preliminary study) to be the most suitable or activities peak

period of the animals The accuracy of the entire transmitter for the study area using TR-4 to

ensure frequency and range accuracy was boosted with Yagi-antenna at a distance of 150m

(Figure 1) All rats tagged were of good health before and after the experiment (with respect to

body and agility) and their body size ranged between 267 - 350g Mean distance and pattern of 2-4

ratssex were monitored using the the radio tracking aforementioned

Data analysis for home range study of Rattus norvegicus was divided into two parts -

home range determination and activities movement map Movement remain one of the main

activities of rats and provide the basis for the fractal activity of rats (Hsieh et al 2014) Movement

was thus the variable of interest in our study and were compared between gender as well as

locations (using the mean of the sex of the rats followed) The GIS coordinates of the 2 locations

(Campbell market and Police quarters) were obtained using GPS (GARMIN - 60CSX) and the

cumulative area curve was plotted using the Ecological Solution Software (Biotas Version 20)

100 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 100) 95 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 95) and

the 95 Harmonic Mean (HM95) were used to estimate the home range in this study

Meanwhile to estimate the core area two of these methods - 50 Harmonic Mean (HM50) and

50 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 50) were employed The total distance of a ratrsquos

movement detected everyday was measured based on the linear distance of the radio fixes at

every alternate hour using the Ecological Software Solutions (Biotas Version 20) The daily

movement rate for each individual was obtained by the division of the daily distance moved each

day by the total active period for that individual rat Differences between sexes and the site for total

active period were statistically compared using Mann- Whitney U test The development of the

suitability map of Rattus norvegicus was executed using data from both questionnaire and

secondary data from Mapping and Survey Department (JUPEM) of the Ministry of Natural

Resources and Environment Malaysia and Penang Municipal Council George Town Malaysia

The essence of these secondary data was to have asses to the original Penang map on which the

rat home range and suitability can be superimposed The data gathered were used to update the

existing one and were digitized into the computer compatible format using Arc-GIS 93 software of

Geographical Information System (GIS) An algorithm for suitability map development was written

(Figure 2)

RESULTS

Radio-tracking of Rattus norvegicus and Cumulative area curve

Generally the mean body size of the male rats was 305g while that of females was 315g with a

total of 786rats encountered during the study The home range curves of adult male (MA 37) at

Campbell market reached an asymptote of 96 radio fixes with a frail increase while for adult female

(FA 28) the asymptote was reached after the minimum of 62 radio fixes was reached also with a

slight increase (Figure 3A amp B) These curves generally reached visible asymptotic limit after 90

radio fixes (approximately 98 radio fixes for MA 37 and 94 radio fixes for FA 28 - Figure 3) At

police quarter and for adult male (MA 3) the curve appears to reach an asymptote after the

minimum number of 51 radio fixes while for adult females the minimum number of radio fixes was

47 (Figure 3C ampD) Both curves progressively increased and a clear asymptotic limit was reached

at 92 radio fixes for MA 3 and 112 radio fixes for FA 9

The implication of the closeness of the minimum number of radio fixes (47 and 51radio fixes)

was that the movement of the rats were usually from the same starting points They however

usually depart at different distance from the source until a point where their further movement

cannot yield a meetingintersection point Also it could be established that there exist differences

in the home range distances covered at each of the sites based on the differences in the number

of radio pixels covered at each site

Home Ranges and Home Range Pattern

The ratsrsquo detection analysis in both location showed that the rats had not moved much from the

nests and only came out in search of food The rodents headed towards similar ways and do not

change their route much for the days that followed and thus the use of MCP 100 was a suitable

approach to estimate the width of the home range area At Campbell market adult males (MA 37

MA 38 and MA 39) had an average home range size of 13352 m2 and mean core area estimation

size of 2939 m2 while adult females (FA 28) had mean home range of 1338 m

2 and mean core

area estimation size of 917 m2(Table 1) The graphical distribution of home range and core area

for MA 37 and FA 28 showed that no home range overlap between MA37 and FA28 in site 1 was

obtained (Figure 3 AampB) At Police quarters adult male (MA 3) had a home range estimation size

of 27111 m2 and mean core area estimation size of 166 m

2 Adult females (FA 9) had mean home

range estimation size of 119 m2 and a very small core area estimation (010 m

2) The graphical

distribution of home range and core area for MA 3 and FA 9 were presented in Figure 4 C amp D

Also there was no overlapping of home range between MA3 and FA 9 in Site 2 (Figure 3 AampB)

Male rats in both sites had a larger home range and core area than their female counterparts

(Table 1)

Generally the mean home range size of rats at Site 2 was 4809 larger than that of rats at

Site 1 14151 m2 (range = 119-27111 m

2) In contrast to the core area size Campbell market was

5669 and it is larger than adult individual at police quarters which was 1928 m2 (range

917-2939 m2 -

Table 1) Home range pattern followed by male rats in Campbell market differ

markedly from that of female rats in the same markets and even from the male rats from the Police

quarters (Figure 4A-D) The home range map showed that the male rats movement pattern

followed a 4-unequal sided structurersquos pattern (Figure 4A) while that of the female followed a

rhombus structure pattern (Figure 4B) However similarity in the home range pattern was

observed in both male and female rats at police quarters The home range pattern (Figure 4C and

D) followed a triangular structure pattern The implication of this is that home range pattern may or

may not follow the same pattern depending on the site

Raster Layers of Habitat Variables for Habitat Suitability

Raster charts of the rattus showed that rats hots spots can be grouped into 4 zones - market

shops settlement and general places while the standardized raster chart identified the major

rallying points of the rats (hot spots) as the market because the highest ratsrsquo frequencies (255) was

obtained at the pink (Figure 5AampB) Meanwhile the non standardized raster charts (Figure 5AampB)

showed that build up points at the market place was the least unlike other places where there

existed many build up points The implication of this result was that the higher the number of build

up points the lesser the ratsrsquo population and it indicated monotonic decrease of the rattus habitat

quality Also the raster charts delineated habitat quality of rat of the study area into 3 - inner city

area mixed settlement area and commercial area The inner city area was said to have the least

size in comparison to both mixed settlement and commercial area The standardized raster chart

however showed that the least sized settlement returned the highest number of rattus (Figure 5C

amp D) This also indicated monotonic decrease like it was obtained in the build up case The raster

charts of the rattus distance to the water ways showed that the further the distance of waterways

the higher the habitat quality thus showing monotonically increasing and positive relationship The

purple coloration shows more suitability for rats habitat (Figure 6AampB) From these results it is

essential to note that habitat quality could be hinged on factors such as water ways build up points

and type of settlement In additions these factors either affects the suitability directly or inversely

(that is positively or negatively)

ActivityMovement Parameters and Habitat Suitability Map of Rattus norvegicus

The Rattus norvegicus emergence from their nests (marking the beginning of activity) was

generally between 1900 hours to 2200 hours At Campbell market the most common time of

emergence for male rats was 1900 hours while for female rats it was 2000 hours (Table 2) At

Police quarter however the most common time of emergence for male was 2000 hours and for

female is 2200 This implied a marked differences in the time of emergence of R norvegicus from

the nest between sexes as well as between sites The animal at Police quarter seems to enter the

nest (as the end of activities) earlier than the rats at Campbell market At Police quarter most

common time of entrywithdrawal for male and female rats proved to be the same (0400 hours)

unlike in Campbell market where the female returnedwithdrawn to the nest earlier than the male

The female returned to the nest at 0600 hours while male returned to the nest at 0700 hours

(Table 2) The mean total daily distance of movement taken by adult rats at Site 2 was 816 more

than that of Site 1 (Table 2) There was no significant difference when total daily distance were

compared between Campbell market and Police quarter (U = 65 pgt005 Mann-Whitney U-Test)

Mean total length of daily active period for rats at Police quarters was 355 hours longer than

Campbell market (Table 3) Statistical analysis shows that when the total length of daily active

period for adult individuals were compared between both sites the difference was not significant

However the total length of daily active period of female rats from Campbell market was

significantly longer compared to female rats at Police quarters (U = 25 p lt 005) As for males

there were no significantly difference when comparing between Campbell market and Police

quarters (U= 14 pgt005) Total length of daily active periods within both sexes (male and female)

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

Introduction

Rodent control have been occasioned by their increasing population which had consequently led

to vast increase in their economic importance (Traweger and Slotta-Backmayr 2005) They have

however been proved useful in laboratory model for physiology and genetic studies (Wang et al

2011) Globally the current and prominent strategy of rodents control and management is the use

of Trap and rodenticides (Trawerger et al 2006 VanAdrichem et al 2013) These strategies had

been on use for decades (Belmain et al 2013 Bell et al 2011 VanAdrichem et al 2013) hence

they are gradually becoming ineffective because rodents are developing ways round these

strategies (Roomaney et al 2012) There is therefore a growing need for an all encompassing or

integrated rodents control strategy like been advocated round the globe (Frantz 1988 Frantz and

Davis 1991 Spragins 2002) Preliminary survey of rats population in the urban center clearly

established a stable rat population in distinctive colonies which do not mingle with other colonies

as obtained in cities round the world (Patergnani et al 2010 Wood 2006 Yasuma and Andau

1999) Normally home range and movement of city rats are smaller than in their natural habitat but

can provide useful information for the all encompassing approach to rodents control strategy The

suitable habitat conditions in the city where the rats can get all the resources needed made the

rats not to linger far from their nestsource Modification in the urban landscape also restrict ratsrsquo

movements to different places (Dickman and Doncaster 1987) These works and preliminary

survey notwithstanding few or non of them have integrated the application of Geographical

Information System (GIS) into home range studies of rat Knowledge regarding the home range of

this commensal rat in the urban area is necessary as it enhance our expertise in the control and

management of the population as well as provide basis for integrative pest management

The aim of using GIS is to gain information concerning the potential distribution of R

norvegicus within the zone (developed urban environment) and relative to their spatial positions In

addition GIS will help to ease the researcherrsquos effort in searching analyzing and presenting the

data map Thus GIS provides powerful automated tools for integrated rodent control strategy and

can enhance better understanding about the ecology of this animal in developed urban

environment The objective of this study was therefore to measure the movement and the home

range size of Rattus norvegicus in the Campbell market and human settlement of the developed

urban environment and to establish a GIS distribution map of Rattus norvegicus in relation to the

different habitat This study also aim at developing an integrated habitat suitability mapping using

the GIS (Geographical Information System)

METHODOLOGY

This study was conducted in Georgetown of Malaysia using both Campbell market (Site 1) and the

Police quarters (Site 2) Campbell market built in 1947 is a wet market for chicken duck fish

pork as well as others aquatic species and it covers an area of 5000m2

Activity in the market

usually commence as early as 600 am to 700 am when the market become busier with human

activities Police quarter on the other hand was built in 1986 and it covers an area of 20000 m2

The police quarters compose of four blocks in the housing area with facilities like a lsquosuraursquo (small

mosque) kindergarten and a badminton court Using Kenward (2001) method home range

measurement of the rats and rat activities (in terms of time of leaving nest and returning) were

captured for two months (March to April 2008) including six days of intensive radio-tracking during

which the mean movements of the rats were recorded for every one hour (2 -4 ratstracking)

These 2 months were found (through preliminary study) to be the most suitable or activities peak

period of the animals The accuracy of the entire transmitter for the study area using TR-4 to

ensure frequency and range accuracy was boosted with Yagi-antenna at a distance of 150m

(Figure 1) All rats tagged were of good health before and after the experiment (with respect to

body and agility) and their body size ranged between 267 - 350g Mean distance and pattern of 2-4

ratssex were monitored using the the radio tracking aforementioned

Data analysis for home range study of Rattus norvegicus was divided into two parts -

home range determination and activities movement map Movement remain one of the main

activities of rats and provide the basis for the fractal activity of rats (Hsieh et al 2014) Movement

was thus the variable of interest in our study and were compared between gender as well as

locations (using the mean of the sex of the rats followed) The GIS coordinates of the 2 locations

(Campbell market and Police quarters) were obtained using GPS (GARMIN - 60CSX) and the

cumulative area curve was plotted using the Ecological Solution Software (Biotas Version 20)

100 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 100) 95 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 95) and

the 95 Harmonic Mean (HM95) were used to estimate the home range in this study

Meanwhile to estimate the core area two of these methods - 50 Harmonic Mean (HM50) and

50 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 50) were employed The total distance of a ratrsquos

movement detected everyday was measured based on the linear distance of the radio fixes at

every alternate hour using the Ecological Software Solutions (Biotas Version 20) The daily

movement rate for each individual was obtained by the division of the daily distance moved each

day by the total active period for that individual rat Differences between sexes and the site for total

active period were statistically compared using Mann- Whitney U test The development of the

suitability map of Rattus norvegicus was executed using data from both questionnaire and

secondary data from Mapping and Survey Department (JUPEM) of the Ministry of Natural

Resources and Environment Malaysia and Penang Municipal Council George Town Malaysia

The essence of these secondary data was to have asses to the original Penang map on which the

rat home range and suitability can be superimposed The data gathered were used to update the

existing one and were digitized into the computer compatible format using Arc-GIS 93 software of

Geographical Information System (GIS) An algorithm for suitability map development was written

(Figure 2)

RESULTS

Radio-tracking of Rattus norvegicus and Cumulative area curve

Generally the mean body size of the male rats was 305g while that of females was 315g with a

total of 786rats encountered during the study The home range curves of adult male (MA 37) at

Campbell market reached an asymptote of 96 radio fixes with a frail increase while for adult female

(FA 28) the asymptote was reached after the minimum of 62 radio fixes was reached also with a

slight increase (Figure 3A amp B) These curves generally reached visible asymptotic limit after 90

radio fixes (approximately 98 radio fixes for MA 37 and 94 radio fixes for FA 28 - Figure 3) At

police quarter and for adult male (MA 3) the curve appears to reach an asymptote after the

minimum number of 51 radio fixes while for adult females the minimum number of radio fixes was

47 (Figure 3C ampD) Both curves progressively increased and a clear asymptotic limit was reached

at 92 radio fixes for MA 3 and 112 radio fixes for FA 9

The implication of the closeness of the minimum number of radio fixes (47 and 51radio fixes)

was that the movement of the rats were usually from the same starting points They however

usually depart at different distance from the source until a point where their further movement

cannot yield a meetingintersection point Also it could be established that there exist differences

in the home range distances covered at each of the sites based on the differences in the number

of radio pixels covered at each site

Home Ranges and Home Range Pattern

The ratsrsquo detection analysis in both location showed that the rats had not moved much from the

nests and only came out in search of food The rodents headed towards similar ways and do not

change their route much for the days that followed and thus the use of MCP 100 was a suitable

approach to estimate the width of the home range area At Campbell market adult males (MA 37

MA 38 and MA 39) had an average home range size of 13352 m2 and mean core area estimation

size of 2939 m2 while adult females (FA 28) had mean home range of 1338 m

2 and mean core

area estimation size of 917 m2(Table 1) The graphical distribution of home range and core area

for MA 37 and FA 28 showed that no home range overlap between MA37 and FA28 in site 1 was

obtained (Figure 3 AampB) At Police quarters adult male (MA 3) had a home range estimation size

of 27111 m2 and mean core area estimation size of 166 m

2 Adult females (FA 9) had mean home

range estimation size of 119 m2 and a very small core area estimation (010 m

2) The graphical

distribution of home range and core area for MA 3 and FA 9 were presented in Figure 4 C amp D

Also there was no overlapping of home range between MA3 and FA 9 in Site 2 (Figure 3 AampB)

Male rats in both sites had a larger home range and core area than their female counterparts

(Table 1)

Generally the mean home range size of rats at Site 2 was 4809 larger than that of rats at

Site 1 14151 m2 (range = 119-27111 m

2) In contrast to the core area size Campbell market was

5669 and it is larger than adult individual at police quarters which was 1928 m2 (range

917-2939 m2 -

Table 1) Home range pattern followed by male rats in Campbell market differ

markedly from that of female rats in the same markets and even from the male rats from the Police

quarters (Figure 4A-D) The home range map showed that the male rats movement pattern

followed a 4-unequal sided structurersquos pattern (Figure 4A) while that of the female followed a

rhombus structure pattern (Figure 4B) However similarity in the home range pattern was

observed in both male and female rats at police quarters The home range pattern (Figure 4C and

D) followed a triangular structure pattern The implication of this is that home range pattern may or

may not follow the same pattern depending on the site

Raster Layers of Habitat Variables for Habitat Suitability

Raster charts of the rattus showed that rats hots spots can be grouped into 4 zones - market

shops settlement and general places while the standardized raster chart identified the major

rallying points of the rats (hot spots) as the market because the highest ratsrsquo frequencies (255) was

obtained at the pink (Figure 5AampB) Meanwhile the non standardized raster charts (Figure 5AampB)

showed that build up points at the market place was the least unlike other places where there

existed many build up points The implication of this result was that the higher the number of build

up points the lesser the ratsrsquo population and it indicated monotonic decrease of the rattus habitat

quality Also the raster charts delineated habitat quality of rat of the study area into 3 - inner city

area mixed settlement area and commercial area The inner city area was said to have the least

size in comparison to both mixed settlement and commercial area The standardized raster chart

however showed that the least sized settlement returned the highest number of rattus (Figure 5C

amp D) This also indicated monotonic decrease like it was obtained in the build up case The raster

charts of the rattus distance to the water ways showed that the further the distance of waterways

the higher the habitat quality thus showing monotonically increasing and positive relationship The

purple coloration shows more suitability for rats habitat (Figure 6AampB) From these results it is

essential to note that habitat quality could be hinged on factors such as water ways build up points

and type of settlement In additions these factors either affects the suitability directly or inversely

(that is positively or negatively)

ActivityMovement Parameters and Habitat Suitability Map of Rattus norvegicus

The Rattus norvegicus emergence from their nests (marking the beginning of activity) was

generally between 1900 hours to 2200 hours At Campbell market the most common time of

emergence for male rats was 1900 hours while for female rats it was 2000 hours (Table 2) At

Police quarter however the most common time of emergence for male was 2000 hours and for

female is 2200 This implied a marked differences in the time of emergence of R norvegicus from

the nest between sexes as well as between sites The animal at Police quarter seems to enter the

nest (as the end of activities) earlier than the rats at Campbell market At Police quarter most

common time of entrywithdrawal for male and female rats proved to be the same (0400 hours)

unlike in Campbell market where the female returnedwithdrawn to the nest earlier than the male

The female returned to the nest at 0600 hours while male returned to the nest at 0700 hours

(Table 2) The mean total daily distance of movement taken by adult rats at Site 2 was 816 more

than that of Site 1 (Table 2) There was no significant difference when total daily distance were

compared between Campbell market and Police quarter (U = 65 pgt005 Mann-Whitney U-Test)

Mean total length of daily active period for rats at Police quarters was 355 hours longer than

Campbell market (Table 3) Statistical analysis shows that when the total length of daily active

period for adult individuals were compared between both sites the difference was not significant

However the total length of daily active period of female rats from Campbell market was

significantly longer compared to female rats at Police quarters (U = 25 p lt 005) As for males

there were no significantly difference when comparing between Campbell market and Police

quarters (U= 14 pgt005) Total length of daily active periods within both sexes (male and female)

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

environment The objective of this study was therefore to measure the movement and the home

range size of Rattus norvegicus in the Campbell market and human settlement of the developed

urban environment and to establish a GIS distribution map of Rattus norvegicus in relation to the

different habitat This study also aim at developing an integrated habitat suitability mapping using

the GIS (Geographical Information System)

METHODOLOGY

This study was conducted in Georgetown of Malaysia using both Campbell market (Site 1) and the

Police quarters (Site 2) Campbell market built in 1947 is a wet market for chicken duck fish

pork as well as others aquatic species and it covers an area of 5000m2

Activity in the market

usually commence as early as 600 am to 700 am when the market become busier with human

activities Police quarter on the other hand was built in 1986 and it covers an area of 20000 m2

The police quarters compose of four blocks in the housing area with facilities like a lsquosuraursquo (small

mosque) kindergarten and a badminton court Using Kenward (2001) method home range

measurement of the rats and rat activities (in terms of time of leaving nest and returning) were

captured for two months (March to April 2008) including six days of intensive radio-tracking during

which the mean movements of the rats were recorded for every one hour (2 -4 ratstracking)

These 2 months were found (through preliminary study) to be the most suitable or activities peak

period of the animals The accuracy of the entire transmitter for the study area using TR-4 to

ensure frequency and range accuracy was boosted with Yagi-antenna at a distance of 150m

(Figure 1) All rats tagged were of good health before and after the experiment (with respect to

body and agility) and their body size ranged between 267 - 350g Mean distance and pattern of 2-4

ratssex were monitored using the the radio tracking aforementioned

Data analysis for home range study of Rattus norvegicus was divided into two parts -

home range determination and activities movement map Movement remain one of the main

activities of rats and provide the basis for the fractal activity of rats (Hsieh et al 2014) Movement

was thus the variable of interest in our study and were compared between gender as well as

locations (using the mean of the sex of the rats followed) The GIS coordinates of the 2 locations

(Campbell market and Police quarters) were obtained using GPS (GARMIN - 60CSX) and the

cumulative area curve was plotted using the Ecological Solution Software (Biotas Version 20)

100 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 100) 95 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 95) and

the 95 Harmonic Mean (HM95) were used to estimate the home range in this study

Meanwhile to estimate the core area two of these methods - 50 Harmonic Mean (HM50) and

50 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 50) were employed The total distance of a ratrsquos

movement detected everyday was measured based on the linear distance of the radio fixes at

every alternate hour using the Ecological Software Solutions (Biotas Version 20) The daily

movement rate for each individual was obtained by the division of the daily distance moved each

day by the total active period for that individual rat Differences between sexes and the site for total

active period were statistically compared using Mann- Whitney U test The development of the

suitability map of Rattus norvegicus was executed using data from both questionnaire and

secondary data from Mapping and Survey Department (JUPEM) of the Ministry of Natural

Resources and Environment Malaysia and Penang Municipal Council George Town Malaysia

The essence of these secondary data was to have asses to the original Penang map on which the

rat home range and suitability can be superimposed The data gathered were used to update the

existing one and were digitized into the computer compatible format using Arc-GIS 93 software of

Geographical Information System (GIS) An algorithm for suitability map development was written

(Figure 2)

RESULTS

Radio-tracking of Rattus norvegicus and Cumulative area curve

Generally the mean body size of the male rats was 305g while that of females was 315g with a

total of 786rats encountered during the study The home range curves of adult male (MA 37) at

Campbell market reached an asymptote of 96 radio fixes with a frail increase while for adult female

(FA 28) the asymptote was reached after the minimum of 62 radio fixes was reached also with a

slight increase (Figure 3A amp B) These curves generally reached visible asymptotic limit after 90

radio fixes (approximately 98 radio fixes for MA 37 and 94 radio fixes for FA 28 - Figure 3) At

police quarter and for adult male (MA 3) the curve appears to reach an asymptote after the

minimum number of 51 radio fixes while for adult females the minimum number of radio fixes was

47 (Figure 3C ampD) Both curves progressively increased and a clear asymptotic limit was reached

at 92 radio fixes for MA 3 and 112 radio fixes for FA 9

The implication of the closeness of the minimum number of radio fixes (47 and 51radio fixes)

was that the movement of the rats were usually from the same starting points They however

usually depart at different distance from the source until a point where their further movement

cannot yield a meetingintersection point Also it could be established that there exist differences

in the home range distances covered at each of the sites based on the differences in the number

of radio pixels covered at each site

Home Ranges and Home Range Pattern

The ratsrsquo detection analysis in both location showed that the rats had not moved much from the

nests and only came out in search of food The rodents headed towards similar ways and do not

change their route much for the days that followed and thus the use of MCP 100 was a suitable

approach to estimate the width of the home range area At Campbell market adult males (MA 37

MA 38 and MA 39) had an average home range size of 13352 m2 and mean core area estimation

size of 2939 m2 while adult females (FA 28) had mean home range of 1338 m

2 and mean core

area estimation size of 917 m2(Table 1) The graphical distribution of home range and core area

for MA 37 and FA 28 showed that no home range overlap between MA37 and FA28 in site 1 was

obtained (Figure 3 AampB) At Police quarters adult male (MA 3) had a home range estimation size

of 27111 m2 and mean core area estimation size of 166 m

2 Adult females (FA 9) had mean home

range estimation size of 119 m2 and a very small core area estimation (010 m

2) The graphical

distribution of home range and core area for MA 3 and FA 9 were presented in Figure 4 C amp D

Also there was no overlapping of home range between MA3 and FA 9 in Site 2 (Figure 3 AampB)

Male rats in both sites had a larger home range and core area than their female counterparts

(Table 1)

Generally the mean home range size of rats at Site 2 was 4809 larger than that of rats at

Site 1 14151 m2 (range = 119-27111 m

2) In contrast to the core area size Campbell market was

5669 and it is larger than adult individual at police quarters which was 1928 m2 (range

917-2939 m2 -

Table 1) Home range pattern followed by male rats in Campbell market differ

markedly from that of female rats in the same markets and even from the male rats from the Police

quarters (Figure 4A-D) The home range map showed that the male rats movement pattern

followed a 4-unequal sided structurersquos pattern (Figure 4A) while that of the female followed a

rhombus structure pattern (Figure 4B) However similarity in the home range pattern was

observed in both male and female rats at police quarters The home range pattern (Figure 4C and

D) followed a triangular structure pattern The implication of this is that home range pattern may or

may not follow the same pattern depending on the site

Raster Layers of Habitat Variables for Habitat Suitability

Raster charts of the rattus showed that rats hots spots can be grouped into 4 zones - market

shops settlement and general places while the standardized raster chart identified the major

rallying points of the rats (hot spots) as the market because the highest ratsrsquo frequencies (255) was

obtained at the pink (Figure 5AampB) Meanwhile the non standardized raster charts (Figure 5AampB)

showed that build up points at the market place was the least unlike other places where there

existed many build up points The implication of this result was that the higher the number of build

up points the lesser the ratsrsquo population and it indicated monotonic decrease of the rattus habitat

quality Also the raster charts delineated habitat quality of rat of the study area into 3 - inner city

area mixed settlement area and commercial area The inner city area was said to have the least

size in comparison to both mixed settlement and commercial area The standardized raster chart

however showed that the least sized settlement returned the highest number of rattus (Figure 5C

amp D) This also indicated monotonic decrease like it was obtained in the build up case The raster

charts of the rattus distance to the water ways showed that the further the distance of waterways

the higher the habitat quality thus showing monotonically increasing and positive relationship The

purple coloration shows more suitability for rats habitat (Figure 6AampB) From these results it is

essential to note that habitat quality could be hinged on factors such as water ways build up points

and type of settlement In additions these factors either affects the suitability directly or inversely

(that is positively or negatively)

ActivityMovement Parameters and Habitat Suitability Map of Rattus norvegicus

The Rattus norvegicus emergence from their nests (marking the beginning of activity) was

generally between 1900 hours to 2200 hours At Campbell market the most common time of

emergence for male rats was 1900 hours while for female rats it was 2000 hours (Table 2) At

Police quarter however the most common time of emergence for male was 2000 hours and for

female is 2200 This implied a marked differences in the time of emergence of R norvegicus from

the nest between sexes as well as between sites The animal at Police quarter seems to enter the

nest (as the end of activities) earlier than the rats at Campbell market At Police quarter most

common time of entrywithdrawal for male and female rats proved to be the same (0400 hours)

unlike in Campbell market where the female returnedwithdrawn to the nest earlier than the male

The female returned to the nest at 0600 hours while male returned to the nest at 0700 hours

(Table 2) The mean total daily distance of movement taken by adult rats at Site 2 was 816 more

than that of Site 1 (Table 2) There was no significant difference when total daily distance were

compared between Campbell market and Police quarter (U = 65 pgt005 Mann-Whitney U-Test)

Mean total length of daily active period for rats at Police quarters was 355 hours longer than

Campbell market (Table 3) Statistical analysis shows that when the total length of daily active

period for adult individuals were compared between both sites the difference was not significant

However the total length of daily active period of female rats from Campbell market was

significantly longer compared to female rats at Police quarters (U = 25 p lt 005) As for males

there were no significantly difference when comparing between Campbell market and Police

quarters (U= 14 pgt005) Total length of daily active periods within both sexes (male and female)

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

was thus the variable of interest in our study and were compared between gender as well as

locations (using the mean of the sex of the rats followed) The GIS coordinates of the 2 locations

(Campbell market and Police quarters) were obtained using GPS (GARMIN - 60CSX) and the

cumulative area curve was plotted using the Ecological Solution Software (Biotas Version 20)

100 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 100) 95 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 95) and

the 95 Harmonic Mean (HM95) were used to estimate the home range in this study

Meanwhile to estimate the core area two of these methods - 50 Harmonic Mean (HM50) and

50 Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP 50) were employed The total distance of a ratrsquos

movement detected everyday was measured based on the linear distance of the radio fixes at

every alternate hour using the Ecological Software Solutions (Biotas Version 20) The daily

movement rate for each individual was obtained by the division of the daily distance moved each

day by the total active period for that individual rat Differences between sexes and the site for total

active period were statistically compared using Mann- Whitney U test The development of the

suitability map of Rattus norvegicus was executed using data from both questionnaire and

secondary data from Mapping and Survey Department (JUPEM) of the Ministry of Natural

Resources and Environment Malaysia and Penang Municipal Council George Town Malaysia

The essence of these secondary data was to have asses to the original Penang map on which the

rat home range and suitability can be superimposed The data gathered were used to update the

existing one and were digitized into the computer compatible format using Arc-GIS 93 software of

Geographical Information System (GIS) An algorithm for suitability map development was written

(Figure 2)

RESULTS

Radio-tracking of Rattus norvegicus and Cumulative area curve

Generally the mean body size of the male rats was 305g while that of females was 315g with a

total of 786rats encountered during the study The home range curves of adult male (MA 37) at

Campbell market reached an asymptote of 96 radio fixes with a frail increase while for adult female

(FA 28) the asymptote was reached after the minimum of 62 radio fixes was reached also with a

slight increase (Figure 3A amp B) These curves generally reached visible asymptotic limit after 90

radio fixes (approximately 98 radio fixes for MA 37 and 94 radio fixes for FA 28 - Figure 3) At

police quarter and for adult male (MA 3) the curve appears to reach an asymptote after the

minimum number of 51 radio fixes while for adult females the minimum number of radio fixes was

47 (Figure 3C ampD) Both curves progressively increased and a clear asymptotic limit was reached

at 92 radio fixes for MA 3 and 112 radio fixes for FA 9

The implication of the closeness of the minimum number of radio fixes (47 and 51radio fixes)

was that the movement of the rats were usually from the same starting points They however

usually depart at different distance from the source until a point where their further movement

cannot yield a meetingintersection point Also it could be established that there exist differences

in the home range distances covered at each of the sites based on the differences in the number

of radio pixels covered at each site

Home Ranges and Home Range Pattern

The ratsrsquo detection analysis in both location showed that the rats had not moved much from the

nests and only came out in search of food The rodents headed towards similar ways and do not

change their route much for the days that followed and thus the use of MCP 100 was a suitable

approach to estimate the width of the home range area At Campbell market adult males (MA 37

MA 38 and MA 39) had an average home range size of 13352 m2 and mean core area estimation

size of 2939 m2 while adult females (FA 28) had mean home range of 1338 m

2 and mean core

area estimation size of 917 m2(Table 1) The graphical distribution of home range and core area

for MA 37 and FA 28 showed that no home range overlap between MA37 and FA28 in site 1 was

obtained (Figure 3 AampB) At Police quarters adult male (MA 3) had a home range estimation size

of 27111 m2 and mean core area estimation size of 166 m

2 Adult females (FA 9) had mean home

range estimation size of 119 m2 and a very small core area estimation (010 m

2) The graphical

distribution of home range and core area for MA 3 and FA 9 were presented in Figure 4 C amp D

Also there was no overlapping of home range between MA3 and FA 9 in Site 2 (Figure 3 AampB)

Male rats in both sites had a larger home range and core area than their female counterparts

(Table 1)

Generally the mean home range size of rats at Site 2 was 4809 larger than that of rats at

Site 1 14151 m2 (range = 119-27111 m

2) In contrast to the core area size Campbell market was

5669 and it is larger than adult individual at police quarters which was 1928 m2 (range

917-2939 m2 -

Table 1) Home range pattern followed by male rats in Campbell market differ

markedly from that of female rats in the same markets and even from the male rats from the Police

quarters (Figure 4A-D) The home range map showed that the male rats movement pattern

followed a 4-unequal sided structurersquos pattern (Figure 4A) while that of the female followed a

rhombus structure pattern (Figure 4B) However similarity in the home range pattern was

observed in both male and female rats at police quarters The home range pattern (Figure 4C and

D) followed a triangular structure pattern The implication of this is that home range pattern may or

may not follow the same pattern depending on the site

Raster Layers of Habitat Variables for Habitat Suitability

Raster charts of the rattus showed that rats hots spots can be grouped into 4 zones - market

shops settlement and general places while the standardized raster chart identified the major

rallying points of the rats (hot spots) as the market because the highest ratsrsquo frequencies (255) was

obtained at the pink (Figure 5AampB) Meanwhile the non standardized raster charts (Figure 5AampB)

showed that build up points at the market place was the least unlike other places where there

existed many build up points The implication of this result was that the higher the number of build

up points the lesser the ratsrsquo population and it indicated monotonic decrease of the rattus habitat

quality Also the raster charts delineated habitat quality of rat of the study area into 3 - inner city

area mixed settlement area and commercial area The inner city area was said to have the least

size in comparison to both mixed settlement and commercial area The standardized raster chart

however showed that the least sized settlement returned the highest number of rattus (Figure 5C

amp D) This also indicated monotonic decrease like it was obtained in the build up case The raster

charts of the rattus distance to the water ways showed that the further the distance of waterways

the higher the habitat quality thus showing monotonically increasing and positive relationship The

purple coloration shows more suitability for rats habitat (Figure 6AampB) From these results it is

essential to note that habitat quality could be hinged on factors such as water ways build up points

and type of settlement In additions these factors either affects the suitability directly or inversely

(that is positively or negatively)

ActivityMovement Parameters and Habitat Suitability Map of Rattus norvegicus

The Rattus norvegicus emergence from their nests (marking the beginning of activity) was

generally between 1900 hours to 2200 hours At Campbell market the most common time of

emergence for male rats was 1900 hours while for female rats it was 2000 hours (Table 2) At

Police quarter however the most common time of emergence for male was 2000 hours and for

female is 2200 This implied a marked differences in the time of emergence of R norvegicus from

the nest between sexes as well as between sites The animal at Police quarter seems to enter the

nest (as the end of activities) earlier than the rats at Campbell market At Police quarter most

common time of entrywithdrawal for male and female rats proved to be the same (0400 hours)

unlike in Campbell market where the female returnedwithdrawn to the nest earlier than the male

The female returned to the nest at 0600 hours while male returned to the nest at 0700 hours

(Table 2) The mean total daily distance of movement taken by adult rats at Site 2 was 816 more

than that of Site 1 (Table 2) There was no significant difference when total daily distance were

compared between Campbell market and Police quarter (U = 65 pgt005 Mann-Whitney U-Test)

Mean total length of daily active period for rats at Police quarters was 355 hours longer than

Campbell market (Table 3) Statistical analysis shows that when the total length of daily active

period for adult individuals were compared between both sites the difference was not significant

However the total length of daily active period of female rats from Campbell market was

significantly longer compared to female rats at Police quarters (U = 25 p lt 005) As for males

there were no significantly difference when comparing between Campbell market and Police

quarters (U= 14 pgt005) Total length of daily active periods within both sexes (male and female)

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

Campbell market reached an asymptote of 96 radio fixes with a frail increase while for adult female

(FA 28) the asymptote was reached after the minimum of 62 radio fixes was reached also with a

slight increase (Figure 3A amp B) These curves generally reached visible asymptotic limit after 90

radio fixes (approximately 98 radio fixes for MA 37 and 94 radio fixes for FA 28 - Figure 3) At

police quarter and for adult male (MA 3) the curve appears to reach an asymptote after the

minimum number of 51 radio fixes while for adult females the minimum number of radio fixes was

47 (Figure 3C ampD) Both curves progressively increased and a clear asymptotic limit was reached

at 92 radio fixes for MA 3 and 112 radio fixes for FA 9

The implication of the closeness of the minimum number of radio fixes (47 and 51radio fixes)

was that the movement of the rats were usually from the same starting points They however

usually depart at different distance from the source until a point where their further movement

cannot yield a meetingintersection point Also it could be established that there exist differences

in the home range distances covered at each of the sites based on the differences in the number

of radio pixels covered at each site

Home Ranges and Home Range Pattern

The ratsrsquo detection analysis in both location showed that the rats had not moved much from the

nests and only came out in search of food The rodents headed towards similar ways and do not

change their route much for the days that followed and thus the use of MCP 100 was a suitable

approach to estimate the width of the home range area At Campbell market adult males (MA 37

MA 38 and MA 39) had an average home range size of 13352 m2 and mean core area estimation

size of 2939 m2 while adult females (FA 28) had mean home range of 1338 m

2 and mean core

area estimation size of 917 m2(Table 1) The graphical distribution of home range and core area

for MA 37 and FA 28 showed that no home range overlap between MA37 and FA28 in site 1 was

obtained (Figure 3 AampB) At Police quarters adult male (MA 3) had a home range estimation size

of 27111 m2 and mean core area estimation size of 166 m

2 Adult females (FA 9) had mean home

range estimation size of 119 m2 and a very small core area estimation (010 m

2) The graphical

distribution of home range and core area for MA 3 and FA 9 were presented in Figure 4 C amp D

Also there was no overlapping of home range between MA3 and FA 9 in Site 2 (Figure 3 AampB)

Male rats in both sites had a larger home range and core area than their female counterparts

(Table 1)

Generally the mean home range size of rats at Site 2 was 4809 larger than that of rats at

Site 1 14151 m2 (range = 119-27111 m

2) In contrast to the core area size Campbell market was

5669 and it is larger than adult individual at police quarters which was 1928 m2 (range

917-2939 m2 -

Table 1) Home range pattern followed by male rats in Campbell market differ

markedly from that of female rats in the same markets and even from the male rats from the Police

quarters (Figure 4A-D) The home range map showed that the male rats movement pattern

followed a 4-unequal sided structurersquos pattern (Figure 4A) while that of the female followed a

rhombus structure pattern (Figure 4B) However similarity in the home range pattern was

observed in both male and female rats at police quarters The home range pattern (Figure 4C and

D) followed a triangular structure pattern The implication of this is that home range pattern may or

may not follow the same pattern depending on the site

Raster Layers of Habitat Variables for Habitat Suitability

Raster charts of the rattus showed that rats hots spots can be grouped into 4 zones - market

shops settlement and general places while the standardized raster chart identified the major

rallying points of the rats (hot spots) as the market because the highest ratsrsquo frequencies (255) was

obtained at the pink (Figure 5AampB) Meanwhile the non standardized raster charts (Figure 5AampB)

showed that build up points at the market place was the least unlike other places where there

existed many build up points The implication of this result was that the higher the number of build

up points the lesser the ratsrsquo population and it indicated monotonic decrease of the rattus habitat

quality Also the raster charts delineated habitat quality of rat of the study area into 3 - inner city

area mixed settlement area and commercial area The inner city area was said to have the least

size in comparison to both mixed settlement and commercial area The standardized raster chart

however showed that the least sized settlement returned the highest number of rattus (Figure 5C

amp D) This also indicated monotonic decrease like it was obtained in the build up case The raster

charts of the rattus distance to the water ways showed that the further the distance of waterways

the higher the habitat quality thus showing monotonically increasing and positive relationship The

purple coloration shows more suitability for rats habitat (Figure 6AampB) From these results it is

essential to note that habitat quality could be hinged on factors such as water ways build up points

and type of settlement In additions these factors either affects the suitability directly or inversely

(that is positively or negatively)

ActivityMovement Parameters and Habitat Suitability Map of Rattus norvegicus

The Rattus norvegicus emergence from their nests (marking the beginning of activity) was

generally between 1900 hours to 2200 hours At Campbell market the most common time of

emergence for male rats was 1900 hours while for female rats it was 2000 hours (Table 2) At

Police quarter however the most common time of emergence for male was 2000 hours and for

female is 2200 This implied a marked differences in the time of emergence of R norvegicus from

the nest between sexes as well as between sites The animal at Police quarter seems to enter the

nest (as the end of activities) earlier than the rats at Campbell market At Police quarter most

common time of entrywithdrawal for male and female rats proved to be the same (0400 hours)

unlike in Campbell market where the female returnedwithdrawn to the nest earlier than the male

The female returned to the nest at 0600 hours while male returned to the nest at 0700 hours

(Table 2) The mean total daily distance of movement taken by adult rats at Site 2 was 816 more

than that of Site 1 (Table 2) There was no significant difference when total daily distance were

compared between Campbell market and Police quarter (U = 65 pgt005 Mann-Whitney U-Test)

Mean total length of daily active period for rats at Police quarters was 355 hours longer than

Campbell market (Table 3) Statistical analysis shows that when the total length of daily active

period for adult individuals were compared between both sites the difference was not significant

However the total length of daily active period of female rats from Campbell market was

significantly longer compared to female rats at Police quarters (U = 25 p lt 005) As for males

there were no significantly difference when comparing between Campbell market and Police

quarters (U= 14 pgt005) Total length of daily active periods within both sexes (male and female)

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

Also there was no overlapping of home range between MA3 and FA 9 in Site 2 (Figure 3 AampB)

Male rats in both sites had a larger home range and core area than their female counterparts

(Table 1)

Generally the mean home range size of rats at Site 2 was 4809 larger than that of rats at

Site 1 14151 m2 (range = 119-27111 m

2) In contrast to the core area size Campbell market was

5669 and it is larger than adult individual at police quarters which was 1928 m2 (range

917-2939 m2 -

Table 1) Home range pattern followed by male rats in Campbell market differ

markedly from that of female rats in the same markets and even from the male rats from the Police

quarters (Figure 4A-D) The home range map showed that the male rats movement pattern

followed a 4-unequal sided structurersquos pattern (Figure 4A) while that of the female followed a

rhombus structure pattern (Figure 4B) However similarity in the home range pattern was

observed in both male and female rats at police quarters The home range pattern (Figure 4C and

D) followed a triangular structure pattern The implication of this is that home range pattern may or

may not follow the same pattern depending on the site

Raster Layers of Habitat Variables for Habitat Suitability

Raster charts of the rattus showed that rats hots spots can be grouped into 4 zones - market

shops settlement and general places while the standardized raster chart identified the major

rallying points of the rats (hot spots) as the market because the highest ratsrsquo frequencies (255) was

obtained at the pink (Figure 5AampB) Meanwhile the non standardized raster charts (Figure 5AampB)

showed that build up points at the market place was the least unlike other places where there

existed many build up points The implication of this result was that the higher the number of build

up points the lesser the ratsrsquo population and it indicated monotonic decrease of the rattus habitat

quality Also the raster charts delineated habitat quality of rat of the study area into 3 - inner city

area mixed settlement area and commercial area The inner city area was said to have the least

size in comparison to both mixed settlement and commercial area The standardized raster chart

however showed that the least sized settlement returned the highest number of rattus (Figure 5C

amp D) This also indicated monotonic decrease like it was obtained in the build up case The raster

charts of the rattus distance to the water ways showed that the further the distance of waterways

the higher the habitat quality thus showing monotonically increasing and positive relationship The

purple coloration shows more suitability for rats habitat (Figure 6AampB) From these results it is

essential to note that habitat quality could be hinged on factors such as water ways build up points

and type of settlement In additions these factors either affects the suitability directly or inversely

(that is positively or negatively)

ActivityMovement Parameters and Habitat Suitability Map of Rattus norvegicus

The Rattus norvegicus emergence from their nests (marking the beginning of activity) was

generally between 1900 hours to 2200 hours At Campbell market the most common time of

emergence for male rats was 1900 hours while for female rats it was 2000 hours (Table 2) At

Police quarter however the most common time of emergence for male was 2000 hours and for

female is 2200 This implied a marked differences in the time of emergence of R norvegicus from

the nest between sexes as well as between sites The animal at Police quarter seems to enter the

nest (as the end of activities) earlier than the rats at Campbell market At Police quarter most

common time of entrywithdrawal for male and female rats proved to be the same (0400 hours)

unlike in Campbell market where the female returnedwithdrawn to the nest earlier than the male

The female returned to the nest at 0600 hours while male returned to the nest at 0700 hours

(Table 2) The mean total daily distance of movement taken by adult rats at Site 2 was 816 more

than that of Site 1 (Table 2) There was no significant difference when total daily distance were

compared between Campbell market and Police quarter (U = 65 pgt005 Mann-Whitney U-Test)

Mean total length of daily active period for rats at Police quarters was 355 hours longer than

Campbell market (Table 3) Statistical analysis shows that when the total length of daily active

period for adult individuals were compared between both sites the difference was not significant

However the total length of daily active period of female rats from Campbell market was

significantly longer compared to female rats at Police quarters (U = 25 p lt 005) As for males

there were no significantly difference when comparing between Campbell market and Police

quarters (U= 14 pgt005) Total length of daily active periods within both sexes (male and female)

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

charts of the rattus distance to the water ways showed that the further the distance of waterways

the higher the habitat quality thus showing monotonically increasing and positive relationship The

purple coloration shows more suitability for rats habitat (Figure 6AampB) From these results it is

essential to note that habitat quality could be hinged on factors such as water ways build up points

and type of settlement In additions these factors either affects the suitability directly or inversely

(that is positively or negatively)

ActivityMovement Parameters and Habitat Suitability Map of Rattus norvegicus

The Rattus norvegicus emergence from their nests (marking the beginning of activity) was

generally between 1900 hours to 2200 hours At Campbell market the most common time of

emergence for male rats was 1900 hours while for female rats it was 2000 hours (Table 2) At

Police quarter however the most common time of emergence for male was 2000 hours and for

female is 2200 This implied a marked differences in the time of emergence of R norvegicus from

the nest between sexes as well as between sites The animal at Police quarter seems to enter the

nest (as the end of activities) earlier than the rats at Campbell market At Police quarter most

common time of entrywithdrawal for male and female rats proved to be the same (0400 hours)

unlike in Campbell market where the female returnedwithdrawn to the nest earlier than the male

The female returned to the nest at 0600 hours while male returned to the nest at 0700 hours

(Table 2) The mean total daily distance of movement taken by adult rats at Site 2 was 816 more

than that of Site 1 (Table 2) There was no significant difference when total daily distance were

compared between Campbell market and Police quarter (U = 65 pgt005 Mann-Whitney U-Test)

Mean total length of daily active period for rats at Police quarters was 355 hours longer than

Campbell market (Table 3) Statistical analysis shows that when the total length of daily active

period for adult individuals were compared between both sites the difference was not significant

However the total length of daily active period of female rats from Campbell market was

significantly longer compared to female rats at Police quarters (U = 25 p lt 005) As for males

there were no significantly difference when comparing between Campbell market and Police

quarters (U= 14 pgt005) Total length of daily active periods within both sexes (male and female)

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

at each site were not significantly different either (at Site 1 U = 6 pgt005 and at Site 2 U=55 p gt

005 ) It is apparent from these results that differences existed in term of activity period of the rats

within the sex and sites and male rats have higher home range than the female counterpart

From the suitability map the distribution of R norvegicus shows a patchy pattern (Figure

7) and using a cut-off method the map can be delineated into three categories - high (075 ndash 1)

medium (035 - 074) and low (006 - 034) quality habitat The habitat suitability map showed that

most of the habitat (gt 23) are suitable for rattus because they fall within highly suitable

region(Figure 7)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Rats home range pattern based on results of this research differs in term of sex as well as sites

and can be hinged on differences of activities or role of each of the sexes It can also been

connected with differences in the availability of key resources such as food burrows vegetation

and others in each of the sites (Dickmann and Doncaster 1987 Davies et al 2013) Lack of home

range overlaps as established in this study may be due to the fact that rattusrsquo burrows do not

normally overlap This conform with non overlapping ranging in Microtus breweri established else

where (Zwicker 1989) Similarly home range pattern may or may not be different according to this

study because the similarity or otherwise would be based on the landscape connectivity

Landscape connectivity (Wang et al 2008) has been found to affect the brown rats dispersal

around houses in Amsterdam Landscape connectivity of the 2 locations (Campbell market and

Police quarter) differs At Campbell market burrowing might be easy for the rats while at the Police

quarter such act are restricted due to the fact that the whole area have been tarred This also

conform with Van Adrichem et al (2013) and Yabe (1979) that established that availability of the

green area and food were some of the factors that govern rats population density in and around

houses in Amsterdam

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

All the habitat suitability threshold including build up points skip bins water source and

nature of the site explored in this study produced a structural pattern of habitat suitability for the

raster chart These habitat threshold are similar to habitat factors identify for rodents in urban

habitat (Spraging 2002) However it is worthy of note that while some of these threshold produce

monotonic increment others produced monotonic decrease for the habitat suitability This is not

unconnected with the fact that while some of the threshold factors enhance the rats habitat others

inhibit the habitat In addition it had been found that sewage serves as a suitable habitat for rattus

(Channon et al 2000) contrary to the findings in this study This contradiction might be hinged on

the difference in the sewage system Sewage that always or partially free to provide habitat for

rodents can be suitable for rodents but sewage that always contains enormous water and other

waste in large quantity (like in the study area) would definitely be avoided by rats (Harper et al

2005 Kolawole et al 2009) Meanwhile less rats were also trapped in the sewage as reported by

Trawegger et al (2006) Similarly the observed differences in the activities period of the rats in

term of sex and site as found in this study could be linked to differences in social roles of the 2

sexes as well as difference in the habitat factors of each of the sites It had been established that

food availability weather condition and predator are some of the factors that can influence the

movement and some other activities of rats (Carlini et al 1972) Also it is important to note that

activities at the 2 sites are markedly different because they are 2 non similar settlements

This study in conclusion have been able to produce habitat suitability map of a highly

urbanized area This can be used in the rodents control program since the use of habitat structure

would provide a pragmatic and integrative approach to rodents control and can supplement old rat

control methods It is equally adoptable for any urbanized area with similar characteristics with the

study area otherwise the algorithm established in the study can be used to established a new

habitat suitability for such different urban area This study therefore provide basic foundation for

further study of ratsrsquo management and control Lastly ratsrsquo movement pattern (5-sided and

Triangular structure pattern) was established in this study and can be used in the control of rodent

in the area as well as similar structured areas It is therefore recommended that this habitat

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

suitability map be used along with other rodents control to ensure integrated pest management

strategies for better efficiency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The support provided by the the School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia for the

field work facilitation the TWAS- USM Postdoctoral Fellowship provided to Dauda TO and

Ministry of Higher Education Grant and RUI-Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia for SAMS are

hereby appreciated by the authors

REFERENCES

Bell E Boyle D Floyd K Garner-Richard P Swann B Luxmoore R Patterson A and R Thomson

(2011) The ground based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of

Canna Inner Hebrides Scotland in Vietch CR Clout MN and Town DR (eds) Island

Invasives eradication and Management Gland Switzerland IUCN 269 - 274

Belmain S Chakman N Sarker N J Saker S Kamal N and Sarker S (2013) Prospects for

Ecologically - based Management of Rodent Population Outbreaks Can we mitigate 50

years Cyclic Famine in South Asia In Huitu O and Henttonen H (eds) 9th European

Vertebrate Pest Management Conference held between 22nd

September - 26th

September 2013 68 - 73

Carlini E A Hamaoui A and Regina M W M (1972) Factor influencing aggressiveness

elicited Marihuana in Food deprived rats British Journal of Pharmacol 44(4) 794ndash804

Channon D Cole M and Cole L (2000) A long - term study of Rattus norvegicus in the London

Borough of Enfield using baiting returns as an indicator of sewer population levels

Epidemiol Infect 125 441 - 445

Davies N Gramotnev G Seabrook L Bradley A Baxter G Rhodes J Lunney D and McAlpine C

(2013) Movement Patterns of an Arboreal Marsupial at the edge of its range Acase study

of the Koala Movement Ecology 1 (8) 1 -15

Dickman C and Doncaster C (1987) The ecology of small mammals in urban habitats I

Populations in a patchy environment The journal of animal ecology 629-640

Frantz S C (1988) Architecture and Commensal vertebrate pest management In Kundsin RB

(ed) Architectural design and indoor microbial pollution Oxford University Press New

York 259pp

Frantz S C and Davies D E (1991) Bionomics and integrated pest management In Gorman G

(ed) Ecology and Management of food - industry pest Association of Official amalytica

chemist Arlington

Harper G A Dickinson K J M and Seddon P J (2005) Habitat use by three rat species (Rattus spp)

on stewart IslandRakiura New Zealand New Zealand Journal of Ecology 29 (2)251 -

260

Hsieh w Escobar C Yugay TLo M Pittma-Polletta B Salgado-Delgado R Scheer F A J L Shea

S A Buijs R M and Hu K (2014) Simulated shift work in rats pertubs multiscale regulation

of locomotor activity Journal of Royal Society Interface 11(96) 75-82

doi101098rsif20140318

Kenward R (2001) A manual for wildlife radio tagging San Diego Academic Press 76pp

Kolawole O M Olayode J A Oyewo O O Adegboye A A and Kolawole C F (2009) Toxicological

renal effects of Bridelia ferruginea-treeated wastewater in rats African Journal of

Microbiology Research 3 (3)082 - 087

Patergnani M Mughini GL Poglayen G Gelli A Pasqualucci F Farina M and Stancampiano L

(2010) Environmental influence on urban rodent bait consumption Journal of Pest

Science 1-13

Roomaney R Ehrlich R and Rother H 2012 The acceptability of rat trap use over pesticides for

rodent control in two poor urban communities in South Africa Environ Health 11 32 -38

doi 1011861476-069X-11-32

Spragins C W (2002) Advances in IPM rodent control in Agriculture Sustain Dev Int Earth

Summit pp 135 - 140

Traweger D and Slotta-Backmayr L (2005) Introducing GIS-modelling into the management of a

brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) (Mamm Rodentia Muridae) Population in Urban habitat Journal of

Pest Science 78 17 ndash 24

Traweger D Travnitzky R Moser C Walzer C Bernatzky G (2006) Habitat preferences and

distribution of the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus Berk) in the city of Salzburg

(Austria) implications for an urban rat Management Journal of Pest Science 79 113 -

125

Van Adrichem M H C Buijs J A Goedhart P W and Verboom J (2013) Factors influencing the

Density of the Brown rat (Rattus norvengicus) in and around houses in Amsterdam

Zoogdierverenigig Lutra 56 (2)77 - 91

Wang D Cong L Yue L Huang B Zhang J Wang Y Li N and Liu X (2011) Seasonal Variation in

Population characteristics and management implications for rats (Rattus norvegicus)

within their native range in Harbin Chinna Journal of Pest Science 78 17 - 24

Wood B J (2006) A long term study of Rattus tiominicus population in an oil palm plantation in

Johore Malaysia I Study method and population size without control The Journal of

Applied Ecology 21(2) 445-460

Yabe T (1979) The relation of food habits to the ecological distributions of the Norway rat Rattus

norvegicus and the roof rat R rattus Japanese Journal of Ecology 293 235-244

Yasuma S and Andau PM (1999) Mammals of Sabah field guide and identification Kuala

Lumpur Japan International Cooperation Agency and Sabah Wildlife Department 172pp

Yu-Huang Wang Y Yang K Bridgman C and Lin L (2008) Habitat suitability modeling to correlate

gene flow with landscape connectivity Landscape Ecology 23989ndash1000

Zwicker K (1989) Home range and spatial organization of the beach vole Microtus breweri

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 25 161-170

Table 1 Home range and core area estimation for each individual in both sites

Site Animal ID MCP100 MCP95 HM95 HM50 MCP50

1 MA 37 45535 13352 37435 2939

FA 28 2784 1338 1977 917 728

MA 38 4521 13487 3701 2924

FA 27 2959 1203 2102 942 703

MA 39 4586 13217 3786 2954

FA 29 2609 1473 1852 892 753

Mean 241595 7345 19706 1928 728

2 MA 3 27111 27111 10768 166 073

FA 9 119 119 183 01 007

MA 4 271 27202 10747 1871 069

FA 10 1205 1155 1695 005 0065

MA 5 27122 2702 10789 1449 077

FA 11 1175 1225 1965 015 0075

Mean 141505 141505 6299 835 04

Note NB Site 1 is Campbell Market while Site 2 is Police quarters

Table 2 Time of emergence and withdrawal of Rattus norvegicus into the nest according to sex at

Site 1 and Site 2

Site Sex Animal ID Number of days Mode time of exit from nest (hours) Mode time of entry

from nest (hours)

Site 1 Male (MA 37) 6 1900 700

Female (FA 28) 6 2000 600

Site 2 Male (MA 3) 6 2000 400

Female (FA 9) 6 2200 400

Sex Number of days Mean total active period (hrs) SD

Site 1 Male amp Female 14 825 312

Male 7 683 366

Female 7 966 258

Site 2 Male amp Female 14 118 292

Male 7 7 366

Female 7 48 217

Note NB Site 1 is Campbell Market while Site 2 is Police quarters

Table 3 Total active period and total distance traveled for male and female at both Site 1 amp 2 for

six consecutive days

Sites

Animal ID MA 37 FA 28

Days ix iy ix yi iy

Site 1

1 4 4949 6 1209

2 4 9369 7 16

3 5 3739 12 2135

4 5 5478 10 2056

5 12 7958 12 1724

6 11 9325 11 1415

Mean 683 6803 966 1689

(SD) -366 -2402 -258 -36

MA 3 FA 9

Site 2

1 6 14994 - -

2 8 7862 3 129

3 9 6735 6 1981

4 9 7176 6 736

5 3 2 209

6 3 6714 7 3754

Mean 7 7297 48 197

(SD) -366 -4673 -217 -1138

Note NB - x and y are both total active period in hours and total distance traveled in meters

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3(a)

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Table 1 Home range and core area estimation for each individual in both sites

Site Animal ID MCP100 MCP95 HM95 HM50 MCP50

1 MA 37 45535 13352 37435 2939

FA 28 2784 1338 1977 917 728

MA 38 4521 13487 3701 2924

FA 27 2959 1203 2102 942 703

MA 39 4586 13217 3786 2954

FA 29 2609 1473 1852 892 753

Mean 241595 7345 19706 1928 728

2 MA 3 27111 27111 10768 166 073

FA 9 119 119 183 01 007

MA 4 271 27202 10747 1871 069

FA 10 1205 1155 1695 005 0065

MA 5 27122 2702 10789 1449 077

FA 11 1175 1225 1965 015 0075

Mean 141505 141505 6299 835 04

Note NB Site 1 is Campbell Market while Site 2 is Police quarters

Table 2 Time of emergence and withdrawal of Rattus norvegicus into the nest according to sex at

Site 1 and Site 2

Site Sex Animal ID Number of days Mode time of exit from nest (hours) Mode time of entry

from nest (hours)

Site 1 Male (MA 37) 6 1900 700

Female (FA 28) 6 2000 600

Site 2 Male (MA 3) 6 2000 400

Female (FA 9) 6 2200 400

Sex Number of days Mean total active period (hrs) SD

Site 1 Male amp Female 14 825 312

Male 7 683 366

Female 7 966 258

Site 2 Male amp Female 14 118 292

Male 7 7 366

Female 7 48 217

Note NB Site 1 is Campbell Market while Site 2 is Police quarters

Table 3 Total active period and total distance traveled for male and female at both Site 1 amp 2 for

six consecutive days

Sites

Animal ID MA 37 FA 28

Days ix iy ix yi iy

Site 1

1 4 4949 6 1209

2 4 9369 7 16

3 5 3739 12 2135

4 5 5478 10 2056

5 12 7958 12 1724

6 11 9325 11 1415

Mean 683 6803 966 1689

(SD) -366 -2402 -258 -36

MA 3 FA 9

Site 2

1 6 14994 - -

2 8 7862 3 129

3 9 6735 6 1981

4 9 7176 6 736

5 3 2 209

6 3 6714 7 3754

Mean 7 7297 48 197

(SD) -366 -4673 -217 -1138

Note NB - x and y are both total active period in hours and total distance traveled in meters

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3(a)

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Table 2 Time of emergence and withdrawal of Rattus norvegicus into the nest according to sex at

Site 1 and Site 2

Site Sex Animal ID Number of days Mode time of exit from nest (hours) Mode time of entry

from nest (hours)

Site 1 Male (MA 37) 6 1900 700

Female (FA 28) 6 2000 600

Site 2 Male (MA 3) 6 2000 400

Female (FA 9) 6 2200 400

Sex Number of days Mean total active period (hrs) SD

Site 1 Male amp Female 14 825 312

Male 7 683 366

Female 7 966 258

Site 2 Male amp Female 14 118 292

Male 7 7 366

Female 7 48 217

Note NB Site 1 is Campbell Market while Site 2 is Police quarters

Table 3 Total active period and total distance traveled for male and female at both Site 1 amp 2 for

six consecutive days

Sites

Animal ID MA 37 FA 28

Days ix iy ix yi iy

Site 1

1 4 4949 6 1209

2 4 9369 7 16

3 5 3739 12 2135

4 5 5478 10 2056

5 12 7958 12 1724

6 11 9325 11 1415

Mean 683 6803 966 1689

(SD) -366 -2402 -258 -36

MA 3 FA 9

Site 2

1 6 14994 - -

2 8 7862 3 129

3 9 6735 6 1981

4 9 7176 6 736

5 3 2 209

6 3 6714 7 3754

Mean 7 7297 48 197

(SD) -366 -4673 -217 -1138

Note NB - x and y are both total active period in hours and total distance traveled in meters

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3(a)

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Table 3 Total active period and total distance traveled for male and female at both Site 1 amp 2 for

six consecutive days

Sites

Animal ID MA 37 FA 28

Days ix iy ix yi iy

Site 1

1 4 4949 6 1209

2 4 9369 7 16

3 5 3739 12 2135

4 5 5478 10 2056

5 12 7958 12 1724

6 11 9325 11 1415

Mean 683 6803 966 1689

(SD) -366 -2402 -258 -36

MA 3 FA 9

Site 2

1 6 14994 - -

2 8 7862 3 129

3 9 6735 6 1981

4 9 7176 6 736

5 3 2 209

6 3 6714 7 3754

Mean 7 7297 48 197

(SD) -366 -4673 -217 -1138

Note NB - x and y are both total active period in hours and total distance traveled in meters

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3(a)

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3(a)

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 2

Figure 3(a)

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 3(a)

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 3(b) Number of fixes required to reach an asymptote for male(MA 3) and female (FA 9) at

site 2

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 4 Distribution Map of the home range and core area of adult male MA 3 at Site 2 NB The

outer lines encompass an area that represents home range area using 100 the inner shaded

area represents 95 Minimum convex polygon 95 Harmonic Mean and the core area using the

50 Harmonic Mean and 50 Minimum Convex Polygon estimates

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 5(a) Raster Chart of build up type (V1) as well as settlement type (V2) before standardized

with fuzzy (ranking type 4 market 3 Shop houses 2 Settlement 1 General) Map layer of build

up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 5(b) Map layer of build up type (V1) after standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 6(a) Raster layer of distance to waterways (V4) before standardized with fuzzy

Figure 6(b) Raster layer of distance to skipsbin (V7) before standardized with fuzzy (distance in

metres)

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes

Figure 7 Habitat suitability map of Rattus norvegicus in the city of Georgetown divided into three

spaced classes