Species Specific Session Abstract

Nutria

Steve Kendrot
United States Department of Agriculture

The South American nutria (Myocastor coypus) is an exotic, invasive, semi-aquatic rodent with established populations in 15 states in the U.S. Nutria feed on the root mass and tubers of important aquatic plants in fresh and brackish marshes throughout estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay, causing wetland loss through salt-water intrusion and erosion. An estimated 7,000 acres of marshlands have been lost at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge since the species was introduced in the early 1940s as part of a failed attempt to establish a market for nutria fur. In 1995, a host of state and federal agencies and non-governmental organizations formed the Nutria Partnership to identify critical research needs and develop a strategy for eradicating nutria on Maryland's Eastern Shore. A two-part experiment was designed to determine life history characteristics and population estimates of nutria, as well as to test the efficacy of two trapping strategies. Eventual success in eradicating nutria will depend on developing effective control strategies and gaining consent from private landowners to provide access to potential source populations.

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