Fertility control of rodent pests: recent developments from lab to field.

This special issue of I Integrative Zoology i (the official journal of the International Society of Zoological Science and the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) comprises a series of papers, aspects of which were presented at the 23rd International Congress of Zoology, a virtual meeting for participants between November 22 and 24, 2021. Nevertheless before major broad-scale field use of EP-1 can be achieved, other assessments such as determining any short or longer term effects of EP-1 in non-target species are essential. Fertility control has been proposed as one method that could be added to the EBRM toolbox - potentially it has the breadth of requisite characteristics and is promoted as a safe, benign and species-specific method for managing rodent problems. Laboratory research on EP-1 has shown some variability in response among different rodent species and sexes as well as differences in efficacy depending on the ratios of E and P (1:1; 1:2) used. [Extracted from the article]