SynthesisPloS one2017
A systematic review of rodent pest research in Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming systems: Are we asking the right questions?
Synthesis in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis shows that plant mixtures reduce pathogens and invertebrate herbivores and increase plant productivity.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- The relationship between taxonomic classification and applied entomology: stored product pests as a model group.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2025Review
- Responses in organs, sperm, steroid hormones and CYP450 enzyme in male mice treated by quinestrol only or in conjunction with clarithromycin.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Twenty-nine years of continuous monthly capture-mark-recapture data of multimammate mice (Mastomys natalensis) in Morogoro, Tanzania.Scientific data · 2023Article
- Article
- Review
- Impact of fertility versus mortality control on the demographics of Mastomys natalensis in maize fields.Integrative zoology · 2022Article
- Effects of forest disturbance on the fitness of an endemic rodent in a biodiversity hotspot.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia.PloS one · 2021Article
- Post-emergence seedling damage due to vertebrate pests and its impact on soybean establishment.PeerJ · 2021Article
- Rodent gene drives for conservation: opportunities and data needs.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Foraging ecology of African wolves (Royal Society open science · 2019Article
- Quantifying the seasonal drivers of transmission for Lassa fever in Nigeria.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Evaluation of rodent control to fight Lassa fever based on field data and mathematical modelling.Emerging microbes & infections · 2019Article
- An Evaluation of Removal Trapping to Control Rodents Inside Homes in a Plague-Endemic Region of Rural Northwestern Uganda.Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) · 2018Article
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
19 authors at 12 institutions in 10 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Rodent pests are especially problematic in terms of agriculture and public health since they can inflict considerable economic damage associated with their abundance, diversity, generalist feeding habits and high reproductive rates. To quantify rodent pest impacts and identify trends in rodent pest research impacting on small-holder agriculture in the Afro-Malagasy region we did a systematic review of research outputs from 1910 to 2015, by developing an a priori defined set of criteria to allow for replication of the review process. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We reviewed 162 publications, and while rodent pest research was spatially distributed across Africa (32 countries, including Madagascar), there was a disparity in number of studies per country with research biased towards four countries (Tanzania [25%], Nigeria [9%], Ethiopia [9%], Kenya [8%]) accounting for 51% of all rodent pest research in the Afro-Malagasy region. There was a disparity in the research themes addressed by Tanzanian publications compared to publications from the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region where research in Tanzania had a much more applied focus (50%) compared to a more basic research approach (92%) in the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region. We found that pest rodents have a significant negative effect on the Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming communities. Crop losses varied between cropping stages, storage and crops and the highest losses occurred during early cropping stages (46% median loss during seedling stage) and the mature stage (15% median loss). There was a scarcity of studies investigating the effectiveness of various management actions on rodent pest damage and population abundance. Our analysis highlights that there are inadequate empirical studies focused on developing sustainable control methods for rodent pests and rodent pests in the Africa-Malagasy context is generally ignored as a research topic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.