DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4tmpg4f81
title: Flick SMART multi-catch rodent station and bait station data sets: Council of the city of Sydney, October 2019 to July 2020

description: Shortly after the enactment of preventative measures aimed at limiting the
 spread of COVID-19, local governments and public health authorities around
 the world reported an increased sighting of rats. We combined multi-catch
 rodent station data, rodent bait stations data, and rodent-related
 residents’ complaints data to explore the effects that social distancing
 and lockdown measures might have had on the rodent population within the
 City of Sydney, Australia. We found that rodent captures, activity, and
 rodent related residents’ complaints increased during the COVID-19 related
 lockdown period, followed by a steep decline post-lockdown. We found no
 changes in the geographical distribution of any of our indices of rodent
 abundance. We hypothesize that lockdown measures resulted in an increase
 in rodent activity driven by a reduction in human-derived food resources.
 This might have increased the mortality rate triggering a population
 crash. There is a high chance that the surviving individuals might be
 rodenticide resistant. It is possible that the onset of COVID-19 might
 have disrupted commensal rodent populations, with profound implications
 for the future management of these species. Here we make available
 multi-catch rodent station data and rodent bait stations data. We
 do not include rodent-related residents’ complaints data due to
 potential identifier data that could be seen as a breach of private
 information sharing.
description: These data sets comprise: Flick SMART
 Multi-Catch rodent station data set, obtained from 20 to 60 multi-catch
 rodent stations deployed across the council from October 2019 to July
 2020. Deployment was non-random and guided by strategic pest management
 priority zoning. These stations were baited with barbeque grease and
 commercially available rodent attractants. The Council receives monthly
 reports from Flick Anticimex Pty Ltd that contained the number of traps
 active, their location in latitude and longitude coordinates, and the
 number of captures per day per each trap. Rodent bait
 stations (PROTECTA EVO Ambush and PROTECTA LP, Bell Laboratories, Inc.)
 data set, obtained from 940 stations deployed across the council of the
 city of Sydney from September 2019 to August 2020. Deployment was
 non-random and guided by strategic pest management priority zoning. These
 stations were baited with commercial poisoned baits (Bromadiolone: Contrac
 Blox and Contrac Soft Bait; Brodifacoum: Ditrac Blox; Difethialone:
 Generation Block and Rodilon Soft Block; Flocoumafen: Storm Secure Block
 and Storm Soft Bait). Baits were randomly rotated at each station, to
 prevent rodents from developing an aversion to any bait. Each station was
 checked regularly (mean: 10.56 Days ± SE: 0.06) and scored according to
 the rodent activity i.e. low: no bait consumed and no visual signs; or
 high: bait consumed and visual signs present. Following strategic pest
 management, a bait station with consistent low activity scores was
 relocated. The location for all bait stations was recorded in UTM
 coordinates to facilitate spatial analyses.
description: Overall_Smart_Box_data.csv file: This file
 comprises Flick SMART Multi-Catch rodent station data. It contains 10
 columns and  9456 rows, with the first row composed of headings defined as
 follows: Day: value from 1 to 305
 representing the period of time in days from Flick SMART Multi-Catch
 rodent station deployment (October 1st, 2019; Day 1), to the last day of
 data collection used for analysis (July 31st, 2020; Day 305).
 DATE: Calendar date corresponding to the data acquisition for
 the corresponding data point. LOCATION: General
 description of the location where the corresponding data point was
 acquired. This is in street name format Lat:
 Geographical coordinates referring to the Latitude where the corresponding
 data point was acquired. Long: Geographical
 coordinates referring to the Longitude where the corresponding data point
 was acquired. LockdownLvl: integer value from 0 to 6
 representing the different levels of social distancing measures enforced
 by the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. HardLockdown: binary value from 0 to 1
 representing the hard lockdown of restaurants and food retailers enforced
 by the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. Period: Categorical variable based on
 "HardLockdown", representing the temporal progression before,
 during, and after closures of restaurants and food retailers enforced by
 the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. Traps: integer value corresponding to the
 number of Flick SMART Multi-Catch rodent stations active at the
 corresponding location and the time of the data acquisition. These data
 were used as a measure of trapping effort.
 Captures: integer value corresponding to the number of rats
 captured at the corresponding location. NA represents missing data, due to
 no traps been active at the time of assessment.  
 Bait_station_data.csv file: This file
 comprises bait rodent station activity data. It contains 11 columns
 and  12503 rows, with the first row composed of headings defined as
 follows: DAY: value from 1 to
 345 representing the period of time in days from bait rodent station
 deployment (Septemeber 2nd, 2019; Day 1), to the last day of data
 collection used for analysis (August 11tht, 2020; Day 345).
 Date: Calendar date corresponding to the data acquisition for
 the corresponding data point. MBP_ID2: Coded confer
 to each bait station and location combination.
 feat_cent_east: Geographical coordinates referring to the UTM
 easting where the corresponding data point was acquired.
 feat_cent_north: Geographical coordinates referring to the UTM
 northing where the corresponding data point was acquired.
 Activity: Categorical score (High or Low) given by pest manager
 contractors during an inspection of bait stations. NA represents bait
 stations that were not assessed. ActivityBi: Coverts
 activity score into a binomial values between 0 =Low and 1 =
 High. Bait type: Description of the bait deployed at
 each bait station. LockdownLvl: integer value from 0
 to 6 representing the different levels of social distancing measures
 enforced by the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. HardLockdown: binary value from 0 to 1
 representing the hard lockdown of restaurants and food retailers enforced
 by the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. Period: Categorical variable based on
 "HardLockdown", representing the temporal progression before,
 during, and after closures of restaurants and food retailers enforced by
 the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. Bait_station_data2.csv
 file: This file comprises summarized bait rodent
 station activity data. It contains 7 columns and  244 rows, with the first
 row composed of headings defined as follows: 
 DAY: value from 1 to 345 representing the period of time in days
 from bait rodent station deployment (Septemeber 2nd, 2019; Day 1), to the
 last day of data collection used for analysis (August 11tht, 2020; Day
 345). Date: Calendar date corresponding to the data
 acquisition for the corresponding data point.
 AStations: Integer value denoting the number of bait stations
 active at the corresponding time of the data acquisition. These data
 were used as a measure of trapping effort.
 ActivitySocre: The total sum of activity score (see file above)
 for all the active bait stations assess at the corresponding time of data
 acquisition.  LockdownLvl: integer value from 0 to 6
 representing the different levels of social distancing measures enforced
 by the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. HardLockdown: binary value from 0 to 1
 representing the hard lockdown of restaurants and food retailers enforced
 by the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic. Period: Categorical variable based on
 "HardLockdown", representing the temporal progression before,
 during, and after closures of restaurants and food retailers enforced by
 the Australian and New South Wales government during COVID-19
 pandemic.