Small mammals of Warsaw suburban areas (central Poland) in the diet of the Tawny owl Strix aluco Cover Image

Drobne ssaki terenów podmiejskich Warszawy w pokarmie puszczyka Strix aluco
Small mammals of Warsaw suburban areas (central Poland) in the diet of the Tawny owl Strix aluco

Author(s): Jerzy Romanowski, Grzegorz Lesiński, Marta Bardzińska
Subject(s): Regional Geography, Environmental Geography, Evaluation research, Environmental interactions
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie
Keywords: Rodentia; Soricomorpha; Chiroptera; owl pellets; anthropogenic landscape;

Summary/Abstract: We investigated composition of small mammals at nine locations in the southwestern suburban zone of Warsaw (central Poland) by means of the analysis of the pellets of the Tawny owl Strix aluco. In total we recorded 611 individuals of 15 species of small mammal communities in the diet. Rodents constituted the most numerous mammalian order. Among the most abundant prey we recorded were Myodes glareolus (63 individuals = 10.3% of all mammals), Apodemus agrarius (56 individuals = 9.2%) (173), Apodemus flavicollis (54 individuals = 8.8%), Mus musculus (48 individuals = 7.9%) and Microtus arvalis (44 individuals = 7.2%). We recorded also some species rarely captured by the tawny owl: Nyctalus noctula and Mustela nivalis. Species composition of small mammals of the study area resembled city parks, with several species typical for anthropogenic landscape.

  • Issue Year: 14/2016
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 109-113
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Polish