The ecology of the deathwatch beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum de Geer Dr Steven R. Belmain Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, ME4 4TB, United Kingdom T: ; F: ; E:

Socio-economic tools for rodent management research: Recent experience from Africa and Asia Dr Steven R. Belmain and colleagues Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, ME4 4TB, United Kingdom T: ; F: ; E:

The black box of social science

Philosophy Mathematical proof Deductive reasoning Statistics Empiricism

Physics Chemistry Biology Economics Sociology Political Science Increasing complexity Geography Archaeology SociobiologyBiological Anthropology LinguisticsHistoryPsychology

Rodent Management will not work unless the Managers adequately understand the problem and its solutions in sufficient detail. Tools and knowledge need to be appropriate

Rodent Managers Everyone else – rural / urban settlements Farmers Households Communities Qualified personnel – service providers Pest Control Operators Environmental Health Officers Agriculture Extensionists

Understanding the Manager

Tools that we can use to understand the Rodent Manager Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Survey Community meetings

Tools that we can use to understand the Rodent Manager Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Survey Community meetings Resource mapping / survey

Tools that we can use to understand the Rodent Manager Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Survey Community meetings Resource mapping / survey Individual meetings / questionnaires

Tools that we can use to understand the Rodent Manager Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Survey Community meetings Resource mapping / survey Individual meetings / questionnaires Observation

Tools that we can use to understand the Rodent Manager Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Survey Community meetings Resource mapping / survey Individual meetings / questionnaires Observation It’s all about asking the right questions and interpreting the answers

Designing your survey Culture Gender Education Language Consultation Pre-testing Experience

Synthesising the data Decision trees, Flow charts, Matrices, Problem- cause diagrams, Bayesian belief networks Taken from: Aplin, K.A., Brown, P.R., Jacob, J., Krebs, C.J. and Grant R. Singleton (2003). Field methods for rodent studies in Asia and the Indo-Pacific. ACIAR Monograph 100; ACIAR, Canberra, AU. 223 pp.

Are there generalisations we can make about Rodent Managers? People like to see dead bodies Poison should act fast Underestimation of the damage caused Limited microbiological knowledge Anthropomorphism “Trap shy dogma” The technology gap

Just a bunch of surveys?

Participation of the Rodent Managers in their own KAP assessment

Five farmers in a group Male and female groups Six groups in a village Four villages Group leaders to manage Meeting once a week NGO staff to oversee process Farmer Diaries

Recording information on time and money spent related to rodent damage, repairs and rodent management activities

InterventionNo intervention {{

InterventionNo intervention {{

Households in Jakunipara (intervention village) involved in recording various repair activities within a farmer diary. Activities coincided with the commencement of village-wide intensive trapping of rodents

Households in the village of Anandapur (non-intervention village) involved in recording various repair activities within a farmer diary

InterventionNo intervention {{

InterventionNo intervention {{

Tracking tiles as a socio-economic tool

Rodents are too clever to be controlled and become trap shy / poison shy Tracking tiles as a socio- economic tool Allows easy understanding of changes in rodent population dynamics Reduces need for dead bodies Efficacy of chronic poisons observed Encourages monitoring & evaluation

Yes “New” management technology can Inform the research process Educate rodent managers Change human behaviour

Future challenges for the social sciences in rodent management research

Human behaviour and disease Social stigmas and family decision making processes – late treatment Self-medication with inappropriate treatments Community cohesion levels - acceptance, apathy, dependence Social conservatism – traditional treatments and behaviour Damage remains hidden, impact on people’s lives is unclear, economic cost is unknown Disease mechanisms and transmission

Witchcraft and traditional medicine Belief in witchcraft, and that illnesses are derived from bad luck, spells and curses is widespread throughout many countries Traditional healers can have supernatural powers (for good and bad) through spells and potions that go beyond their administering of herbal remedies to the sick. Rats are implicated in the spread of witchcraft in many cultures. Because rats are fast, they are believed to be used to bewitch others and make them ill - as a vessel of the curse sent by the witch.

Traditional beliefs of hygiene can vary among cultures and differ from modern scientific views, e.g. internal dirt, not external dirt Emphasis on tidiness rather than removal of environmental dirt Among young hygiene may relate to keeping one’s body clean and among older people to keeping a tidy kitchen Food and water borne diseases – e.g. river water always clean, wild animals are clean Rats, Hygiene and Sanitation Concepts and socio-economics of disease

Thanks to all my collaborators and Thank You for listening