J. Mason, M. Adams, L. Clark
1989
Citations
2
Influential Citations
116
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Journal of Wildlife Management
Abstract
We investigated the physicochemical and sensory bases of anthranilate repellency to European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Physicochemical parameters that control volatility were positively correlated with avoidance. Nasal trigeminal chemoreception and olfaction were important for sensory detection. Methyl, isobutyl, ethyl, and isobutyl methyl anthranilate are as aversive as dimethyl anthranilate (methyl-N-methyl anthranilate) (DMA). J. WILDL. MANAGE. 53(1):55-64 Bird depredations to agricultural commodities are common and can be economically severe; e.g., livestock feed losses through consumption and spillage (Feare and Wadsworth 1981); disease transmission to livestock (Bickford et al. 1966); and damage to crops, such as sunflowers (Avery and DeHaven 1982), grains (Holler et al. 1982, Bollinger and Caslick 1985, Bullard and York 1985), and fruits (Bollinger et al. 1973, Tobin 1985). Birds also accidentally ingest agricultural chemicals such as carbofuran, fensulfothion, and parathion (Balcomb 1983) as nontarget species; their use of these chemicals may restrict man's use of pesticides in some situations. Efforts to control problem birds include trapping and the use of frightening or lethal chemical agents (Besser et al. 1967, Levingston 1967, West et al. 1967, Feare et al. 1981). These approaches are expensive (Cunningham et al. 1979, Glahn 1981) and fail to create a suboptimal environment for avian feeding activity. Birds often return when control measures are relaxed (Twedt and Glahn 1982). An alternative or supplement to existing control strategies may be the use of flavor chemicals that are selectively repellent to birds. These flavors could be sprayed on crops, or added to livestock feeds or granulated pesticides to prevent or reduce ingestion. One candidate compound is DMA, a human food flavoring that is palatable to livestock (R. Fisher, U.S. Dep. Agric. and J. R. Mason, unpubl. data), but aversive to starlings (Mason et al. 1983, 1985), red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), pigeons (Columba livia), jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), herring gulls (Larus argentatus) (Kare and Mason 1985), ring-necked 1 Present address: Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308. This content downloaded from 168.68.1.127 on Sun, 5 Oct 2014 03:05:18 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 56 ANTHRANILATE R PELLENCY * Mason et al. J. Wildl. Manage. 53(1):1989 Table 1. Available physicochemical parameters of 9 anthranilate derivatives examined as repellents of European starlings in experiments 1 and 2. Experiment and derivative MWa BP No. C % O % N % NAC Experiment 1 Methyl (CsHNO2) 151.2 256 8 21.1 9.3 15.9 Methyl-N-methyl (C,H1,NO2) 165.1 255 9 19.4 8.5 21.8 Ethyl (CgHINO2) 165.2 268 9 19.0 8.5 21.8 Isobutyl (C,,H,5NO2) 193.2 270 11 16.5 7.3 31.1 Isobutyl methyl (C12H17NO2) 207.0 200 12 15.5 6.8 34.8