Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia
Using owl pellets analysis to monitor mammals in protected areas makes it possible to accumulate a unique material to study the distribution and relative abundance of both common and rare species. Due to the ease of collecting and accumulating of pellets, this method helps to quickly obtain a large...
Published in: | Theriologia Ukrainica |
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National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. National Museum of Natural History
2022
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9aa0da8b41064c01bd420a15b6d7bcd1 2023-05-15T15:56:33+02:00 Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia 10.15407/TU2404 2022-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.15407/TU2404 https://doaj.org/article/9aa0da8b41064c01bd420a15b6d7bcd1 EN UK eng ukr National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. National Museum of Natural History http://terioshkola.org.ua/library/pts24/TU2404-drebet.htm https://doaj.org/toc/2616-7379 https://doaj.org/toc/2617-1120 doi:10.15407/TU2404 2616-7379 2617-1120 https://doaj.org/article/9aa0da8b41064c01bd420a15b6d7bcd1 Theriologia Ukrainica, Vol 24, Pp 16-27 (2022) owl pellets small mammals fauna monitoring nature protected areas podillia Zoology QL1-991 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.15407/TU2404 2023-02-12T01:31:06Z Using owl pellets analysis to monitor mammals in protected areas makes it possible to accumulate a unique material to study the distribution and relative abundance of both common and rare species. Due to the ease of collecting and accumulating of pellets, this method helps to quickly obtain a large amount of material to monitor the changes in natural areas and objects during certain time intervals without interfering with the course of natural processes. The proportions of small-mammal species in the diet of most owls are representative of the proportions of species in their groups. Therefore, the pellet method can be used to organise monitoring of mammal species of natural regions. We analysed nearly 2000 pellets of several species of owls collected in Podillia in the course of the study. Pellets are mostly collected within protected areas. Small mammals form the basis of the diet of the studied species of owls. The diet of the short-eared owl is the most diverse, and it includes 18 species of small mammals. The common vole occurs the most often. The diet of other owl species is also diverse, in particular of the little owl, tawny owl, and eagle owl. As in the case of the short-eared owl, the main prey of the barn owl and grey owl is a common species—the common vole. The diet of the eagle owl, unlike others, is dominated by larger small-mammal species—brown rat, white-breasted hedgehog, and European hamster. In addition to common species, the analysis of owl pellets allows us to identify not only the most common, but also rare species, such as the European hamster, bicoloured shrew, lesser white-toothed shrew, and various bats. Therefore, the pellet method of research is highly effective in analysing the composition of the fauna and the structure of communities, of both prey and predator species. Owl pellet analysis is a valuable asset during small-mammal monitoring studies, and is especially useful for sampling of indicator small-mammal species during environmental impact assessments in protected areas. The ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Common vole Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Theriologia Ukrainica 2022 24 16 27 |
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owl pellets small mammals fauna monitoring nature protected areas podillia Zoology QL1-991 |
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owl pellets small mammals fauna monitoring nature protected areas podillia Zoology QL1-991 10.15407/TU2404 Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia |
topic_facet |
owl pellets small mammals fauna monitoring nature protected areas podillia Zoology QL1-991 |
description |
Using owl pellets analysis to monitor mammals in protected areas makes it possible to accumulate a unique material to study the distribution and relative abundance of both common and rare species. Due to the ease of collecting and accumulating of pellets, this method helps to quickly obtain a large amount of material to monitor the changes in natural areas and objects during certain time intervals without interfering with the course of natural processes. The proportions of small-mammal species in the diet of most owls are representative of the proportions of species in their groups. Therefore, the pellet method can be used to organise monitoring of mammal species of natural regions. We analysed nearly 2000 pellets of several species of owls collected in Podillia in the course of the study. Pellets are mostly collected within protected areas. Small mammals form the basis of the diet of the studied species of owls. The diet of the short-eared owl is the most diverse, and it includes 18 species of small mammals. The common vole occurs the most often. The diet of other owl species is also diverse, in particular of the little owl, tawny owl, and eagle owl. As in the case of the short-eared owl, the main prey of the barn owl and grey owl is a common species—the common vole. The diet of the eagle owl, unlike others, is dominated by larger small-mammal species—brown rat, white-breasted hedgehog, and European hamster. In addition to common species, the analysis of owl pellets allows us to identify not only the most common, but also rare species, such as the European hamster, bicoloured shrew, lesser white-toothed shrew, and various bats. Therefore, the pellet method of research is highly effective in analysing the composition of the fauna and the structure of communities, of both prey and predator species. Owl pellet analysis is a valuable asset during small-mammal monitoring studies, and is especially useful for sampling of indicator small-mammal species during environmental impact assessments in protected areas. The ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
10.15407/TU2404 |
author_facet |
10.15407/TU2404 |
author_sort |
10.15407/TU2404 |
title |
Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia |
title_short |
Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia |
title_full |
Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia |
title_fullStr |
Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of Podillia |
title_sort |
monitoring of the mammal fauna by studying owl pellets: a case of small mammals in protected areas of podillia |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. National Museum of Natural History |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.15407/TU2404 https://doaj.org/article/9aa0da8b41064c01bd420a15b6d7bcd1 |
genre |
Common vole |
genre_facet |
Common vole |
op_source |
Theriologia Ukrainica, Vol 24, Pp 16-27 (2022) |
op_relation |
http://terioshkola.org.ua/library/pts24/TU2404-drebet.htm https://doaj.org/toc/2616-7379 https://doaj.org/toc/2617-1120 doi:10.15407/TU2404 2616-7379 2617-1120 https://doaj.org/article/9aa0da8b41064c01bd420a15b6d7bcd1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.15407/TU2404 |
container_title |
Theriologia Ukrainica |
container_volume |
2022 |
container_issue |
24 |
container_start_page |
16 |
op_container_end_page |
27 |
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1766391959378722816 |