Do land managers apply best-practice integrated pest management: a case study of the European rabbit

Integrated pest management (IPM) is widely recommended for managing invasive pests to maximise effectiveness. However, the extent to which IPM occurs is typically unknown. We used the rabbit in Australia as a case study to investigate whether land managers apply IPM. Using 7415 control records voluntarily submitted to RabbitScan by land managers, we found evidence of IPM in only 39%. The extent to which integration occurred depended on the control method applied [warren ripping, poison baiting, release of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), warren fumigation]. Two of four major rabbit control methods were frequently integrated with at least one other method; 73% of warren ripping and 55% of poison baiting records were associated with another different control method. In contrast, only 15% of RHDV releases and 35% of warren fumigations were integrated with another different control method. This confirmed reports that land managers view RHDV release as a ‘silver bullet’ and release it to avoid applying more expensive but more effective control methods. We identified control sequences that were neither biologically appropriate nor cost-efficient. In some situations, where there is a risk to other animals, or land managers lack suitable equipment, it may be difficult to apply IPM in an optimal sequence or at the optimal time. However, a greater level of control and at a proportionally lower cost could result if IPM principals were more rigorously applied, for instance, by focusing on strategic application of control methods in sequences known to be highly effective and cost-efficient.