In Episode 28 we are joined by Kaylee Byers from the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of British Columbia to chat about rat ecology, behaviours, and their impact on human health. Kaylee shares with us how the movement of rats in urban settings leads to a clustering of disease pathogens. How does pest control lead to changes in social behaviour and an increase in pathogen prevalence? What is the density of urban rats and how far-ranging are they? Where in the world could you go to avoid rats? All this and much more in Oh Rats! with Kaylee Byers!
References
Byers, K. A., Lee, M. J., Patrick, D. M., & Himsworth, C. G. (2019). Rats about town: A systematic review of rat movement in urban ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7 doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00013
Byers, K. A., Lee, M. J., Donovan, C. M., Patrick, D. M., & Himsworth, C. G. (2017). A novel method for affixing global positioning system (GPS) tags to urban norway rats (rattus norvegicus): Feasibility, health impacts and potential for tracking movement. Journal of Urban Ecology, 3(1) doi:10.1093/jue/jux010