Research plans for Helsinki Urban Rat Project: the use of track plates for rat population dynamics and survey of rat-borne pathogens and parasites within the city of Helsinki.

1. Urban rats in Helsinki
Tuomas Aivelo, @aivelo
Organismal and Evolutionary Biology / UH

3. Brown rat
• Rattus norvegicus
• Northern China or Mongolia
• Spread to Europe in 18th
century
• Cosmopolitan

4. Why study rats in urban environments?
• Easy to study, numerous
• Evolutionary very succesful species
• Extensive resources due to laboratory experiments
• Possibilities of comparative studies and cooperation
• Huge amount of spatial data on their habitats
• Elicits strong affective responses from citizens
• Surprisingly few studies, especially in Europe or boreal regions

5. Brown rat in Helsinki
• Poorly known, not studied
• Highly aggregated
• Parks, construction sites, sewers?
• Sometimes mass occurrences

7. Multidisciplinary approach
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/projects/urban-rats
@HelsinkiRats
Tuomas Aivelo, UH
- Parasites
- Citizen science
- Biology education
Otso Huitu, LUKE
- Population ecology
- Pest management
- Rodenticide resistance
Esa Koskela, U Jyväskylä
- Life history
- Evolutionary ecology
Nina V. Nygren, U Tampere
- Enviromental politics
- Human-wildlife relations

8. What we are doing at the moment?
• Spatiotemporal population dynamics
• Collecting available data
• City: Billing details, citizen contacts, inspections
• Extermination companies: Traps
• Track plates
• Secondary schools all over the city
• Reliability of data collected by students / Student attitudes etc. towards research
• Parasitological survey
• Dissections and sample collection from carcasses obtained from
extermination companies

9. Track plates

10. Parasites & pathogens
Helminths
- intestinal
- heart and lungs
- cysts
Gut microbiota
- Antibiotic resistant bacteria
Viruses
- DNA viruses
- RNA viruses
- Soeul hantavirus
- Hepatitis E
Trichinella
Ectoparasites
- species
- vectors?
Weight
Resistance
Population genetics
Bacterial lesions
Age
Reproductive status
Sex
LengthLocation Date

11. Objectives
1. Survey of parasites and pathogens in urban rats in Helsinki
2. The effects of individual variables (sex, age etc.)
3. Within-host assocations of parasites and pathogens
4. Spatiotemporal variation in rat parasites and pathogens

12. In larger perspective
• Rat population dynamics and disease
• Zoonotic risks to humans, livestock or pets
• Rat genetics and parasite risk
• Human attitudes vs. actual risk
• Citizen participation in urban nature decision making
• Smart and effective pest management