We reviewed published knowledge about small rodent population recovery after sudden population collapse.We determined recovery mechanisms,recovery time and recovery rate of various small mammal species to make suggestions how to adapt and optimize current methods for pest management and for conservation.Collapses can be caused naturally for example after natural disasters or by man-made events such as pesticide applications.Recovery can take place in several ways: in situ survival and reproduction of a small remaining fraction of the population,immigration,or a combination thereof.Which mechanisms are invoked depends on life-history strategy,social behaviour and density-dependent processes in population dynamics of each species.Other factors such as the kind of disturbance,its intensity and spatial scale as well as environmental circumstances such as the presence of refuge areas need to be considered,too.Recovery time can vary from a couple of days to several years.That depends on the species reproductive potential,and the kind of disturbances experienced,while it does not seem to matter whether the disturbance is man-made or natural.Finally,most populations rebound to density levels equal to pre-collapse numbers.From these findings we derived potential implications for pest rodent management and conservation.