Thanks for starting this thread, Lorenzo. I strongly upvoted your initial comment because it prompted me to significantly update the post. Thanks for the relevant context, Mal. I am now using the amount of rodenticide and fertility control bait for full depopulation per initial rodent instead of the amount needed to kill one rodent, and prevent one rodent birth. I think my current approach is better because full depopulation (in a given area) is the practical goal of using rodenticide or fertility control bait. In my past approach, the goal was preventing one rodent birth via fertility control for each rodent that would be killed with rodenticide, which I worry has little connection with the practical implementation of the intervention.
The conclusions of the post have not changed. I had calculated an increase in cropland of 0.621 m2-year per rodent birth prevented. Now I estimate a decrease in cropland of 0.413 m2-year per initial rodent. So the change in the living time of soil animals per initial rodent is −66.5 % (= −0.413/0.621) that I had obtained per rodent birth prevented. However, my conclusions only depended (and depend) on the ratio between the (size of the) effects on soil animals and rodents. As I said (and say) in the post, “I have very little idea about whether it [controlling the fertility of rodents instead of killing them] increases or decreases the welfare of soil animals”.
Thanks for starting this thread, Lorenzo. I strongly upvoted your initial comment because it prompted me to significantly update the post. Thanks for the relevant context, Mal. I am now using the amount of rodenticide and fertility control bait for full depopulation per initial rodent instead of the amount needed to kill one rodent, and prevent one rodent birth. I think my current approach is better because full depopulation (in a given area) is the practical goal of using rodenticide or fertility control bait. In my past approach, the goal was preventing one rodent birth via fertility control for each rodent that would be killed with rodenticide, which I worry has little connection with the practical implementation of the intervention.
The conclusions of the post have not changed. I had calculated an increase in cropland of 0.621 m2-year per rodent birth prevented. Now I estimate a decrease in cropland of 0.413 m2-year per initial rodent. So the change in the living time of soil animals per initial rodent is −66.5 % (= −0.413/0.621) that I had obtained per rodent birth prevented. However, my conclusions only depended (and depend) on the ratio between the (size of the) effects on soil animals and rodents. As I said (and say) in the post, “I have very little idea about whether it [controlling the fertility of rodents instead of killing them] increases or decreases the welfare of soil animals”.