Rodent damage research in Hawaii: changing times and priorities

Rodent damage research in Hawaii has evolved in response to shifts from large-scale monoculture agriculture, such as sugarcane, to cultivation of diversified high-value specialty crops, such as export ornamental nurseries and forestry products. Recent findings and renewed conservation awareness of the impact of predators, especially rodents, as important limiting factors of many of Hawaii’s endangered avifauna have stimulated increased efforts to reduce rodent depredation in conservation areas and other natural resources. Some of the early tools developed in agriculture have been incorporated and successfully used for protecting non-agricultural resources and new methods have been developed for current problems. This paper summarizes the rodent research that the National Wildlife Research Center’s Hawaii Field Station has conducted over these years of changing economic times and priorities.