ArticleMolecular ecology2009
Commensal ecology, urban landscapes, and their influence on the genetic characteristics of city-dwelling Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus).
Article in Molecular ecology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- High altitude limits the biogeography of common rats but not house mice.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Host population dynamics influence Leptospira spp. transmission patterns among Rattus norvegicus in Boston, Massachusetts, US.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Predicting the Potential Distribution of a Rodent Pest, Brown Rat (Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Fatty acid metabolism decreased while sexual selection increased in brown rats spreading south.iScience · 2023Article
- The parasitic nematode Strongyloides ratti exists predominantly as populations of long-lived asexual lineages.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Integrated pest management strategies targeting the Florida kissing bug,Current research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2023Review
- An exploratory study of behavioral traits and the establishment of social relationships in female laboratory rats.PloS one · 2023Article
- Monitoring Urban Zoonotic Virus Activity: Are City Rats a Promising Surveillance Tool for Emerging Viruses?Viruses · 2022Article
- Metagenomic analysis of intestinal microbiota in wild rats living in urban and rural habitats.Folia microbiologica · 2022Article
- Epidemiology and Genetic Diversity ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Modeling CRISPR gene drives for suppression of invasive rodents using a supervised machine learning framework.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
- Assessing effects of chronic heavy metal exposure through a multibiomarker approach: the case of Liomys irroratus (Rodentia: Heteromyidae).Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Article
- High prevalence and diversity of Bartonella in small mammals from the biodiverse Western Ghats.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- Existence of wild brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) that are indifferent to novel objects.The Journal of veterinary medical science · 2021Article
- Socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics in cities.Evolutionary applications · 2021Article
- Using genetic relatedness to understand heterogeneous distributions of urban rat-associated pathogens.Evolutionary applications · 2021Article
- Genetic boundary and gene flow between 2 parapatric subspecies of brown rats.Current zoology · 2020Article
- A multivariate geostatistical framework for combining multiple indices of abundance for disease vectors and reservoirs: a case study ofJournal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2020Article
- The social life of Norway rats (eLife · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Movement of individuals promotes colonization of new areas, gene flow among local populations, and has implications for the spread of infectious agents and the control of pest species. Wild Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) are common in highly urbanized areas but surprisingly little is known of their population structure. We sampled individuals from 11 locations within Baltimore, Maryland, to characterize the genetic structure and extent of gene flow between areas within the city. Clustering methods and a neighbour-joining tree based on pairwise genetic distances supported an east-west division in the inner city, and a third cluster comprised of historically more recent sites. Most individuals (approximately 95%) were assigned to their area of capture, indicating strong site fidelity. Moreover, the axial dispersal distance of rats (62 m) fell within typical alley length. Several rats were assigned to areas 2-11.5 km away, indicating some, albeit infrequent, long-distance movement within the city. Although individual movement appears to be limited (30-150 m), locations up to 1.7 km are comprised of relatives. Moderate F(ST), differentiation between identified clusters, and high allelic diversity indicate that regular gene flow, either via recruitment or migration, has prevented isolation. Therefore, ecology of commensal rodents in urban areas and life-history characteristics of Norway rats likely counteract many expected effects of isolation or founder events. An understanding of levels of connectivity of rat populations inhabiting urban areas provides information about the spatial scale at which populations of rats may spread disease, invade new areas, or be eradicated from an existing area without reinvasion.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.