U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
ORCID IDs
Werner 0000-0002-3483-7402
Date of this Version
2024
Citation
Wildlife Research (2024) 51: WR23062
doi: 10.1071/WR23062
Handling editor Peter Brown
Abstract
Non-lethal repellents are needed to protect newly planted and ripening crops, to prevent valuable resources from being damaged by some wild birds worldwide. We systematically searched all scientific publications, patents and product registrations to developa current review and synthesis regarding chemical bird repellents for wildlife researchers, ecologists, managers, and conservationists. We then developed a database regarding the testing procedures and repellency results associated with the published and unpublished literature. For this comprehensive database, we developed an ‘index of success,’ or relative efficacy level (e.g. effective in most experiments), associated with each tested bird repellent. We found 345 papers published in 1948–2022, including 2,994 tests of 1,478 repellent chemicals. From 224 publications regarding seed repellents, chemicals that were effective in most experiments and tested in three or more experiments include fungicides (cycloheximide, thiuram), insecticides (carbamates, imidacloprid), starlicide (3-chloro-p-toluidinehydrochloride), human pharmaceuticals (aminopyridine, quinine sulfate), petroleum distillate (paranapthalene), alkaloids (caffeine, quininesulfate), monoterpenes (d-pulegone) and naturally occurring or synthetic polyphenolic compounds (anthraquinone). Among 114 publications regarding repellents used for foliar/fruit applications, chemicals that were effective in most experiments include activated charcoal, anthraquinone and carbamate. Among other bird repellents that were reportedly effective in most experiments, chemicals used for water applications and tested in three or more experiments include benzaldehyde, ortho-aminoacetophenone, and sodium chloride; chemicals used as bait repellents include anthraquinone, methylanthranilate and 2-carbamoyloxyethyl(trimethyl)azanium chloride; and the single chemical regarded as an area repellent was methylanthranilate. There are currently 17 registered bird repellent products in the USA for five active ingredients, including anthraquinone, capsaicin, methiocarb, methylanthranilate, and polybutene. Future research and development of chemical bird repellents should include biopesticides (i.e. pesticides derived from natural materials) and pesticides that are already registered for human food use. The future discovery of repellent active ingredients and repellent products can be facilitated by an understanding of the scientific literature, patents and product registrations regarding bird repellent applications summarised in this review.
Comments
United States government work