Assistant Prof. Dr. Takeda presented the results of his research on evaluating the susceptibility of rodenticides to wildlife in the Ogasawara Islands at the Pacific Rim International Chemical Conference (Pacifichem 2021) held during December 16-21, 2021.

Pacifichem 2021 is an international conference jointly held by chemical societies in seven countries: Japan, the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, and China, where presentations on a wide range of chemistry-related topics are made.

The conference was originally scheduled to be held locally in Hawaii, but due to countermeasures against the COVID19, it was held completely online. As the infection situation in Japan was settling down, I thought I would be able to see my mentor in the U.S. but it is still difficult to hold an international conference in the situation.

I presented the results of my research on the effects of rodenticides sprayed in the Ogasawara Islands to eradicate exotic rodents on the local endemic species using molecular biology and simulation methods.

The Ogasawara Islands are rich in unique ecosystems, such as green turtles, red-headed wood pigeons, and Ogasawara flying foxes, and are registered as a World Natural Heritage site. However, the disturbance of the ecosystem by invasive rodents has become a problem, and rodenticides have been used to exterminate them. Since these rodenticides are not only toxic to rodents but may also cause poisoning in other organisms, we conducted a toxicity assessment of rodenticides on the wildlife mentioned above.

This research was conducted in collaboration with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Hokkaido University, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Civil International Corporation, Everlasting Nature of Asia, Japan Wildlife Research Center, and Institute of Boninology.

Pacifichem 2021 official website

https://pacifichem.org/