Bird of prey nest sediments as a source of data on the modern fauna and flora of northern taiga in the European Russia

Ponomarev, D.V.; Kryazheva, I.V.; Marchenko-Vagapova, T.I.; Isakov, V.A.; Selkova, L.A.

Russian Journal of Theriology. Main page

Bird of prey nest sediments as a source of data on the modern fauna and flora of northern taiga in the European Russia
Ponomarev D.V., Kryazheva I.V., Marchenko-Vagapova T.I., Isakov V.A., Selkova L.A.
P. 73-82
The study examined rodent bone remains, spore-pollen assemblages, and the granulometric composition of sediments found in a bird of prey nest in the northern taiga of the Middle Timan in the Komi Republic. The data obtained was compared to previous research on contemporary flora and fauna. The sediments consist of silty clays and loams formed by surface water, which removed sediments and weathered bedrock carbonate products from the slope. Sediments accumulated approximately for 30 years, as shown by the discovery of a bird ring in the top layer of the nest sediment. Among the rodent remains, 12 species typically found in the fauna of the northern taiga of Eastern Europe have been identified. The predominance of remains belonging to riparian species in the sub-fossil assemblage is due to the raptor’s hunting specialization. Compared to the data obtained through trapping small mammals using trenches, the nest materials lack only shrews. Nevertheless, there are still rare and elusive species that go undetected by traps due to their size or lifestyle present in the materials. The spore-pollen assemblages discovered in the sediments of bird nests offer a reliable depiction of the current vegetation in the surrounding area, which encompasses both the zonal vegetation category and even the existence of uncommon forest-tundra combinations within the research zone. The data obtained demonstrate the capability of using bone remains as well as spores and pollen found in nests of birds of prey to analyze recent flora and fauna.

DOI: 10.15298/rusjtheriol.23.1.08

References

Abramson N.I. & Lissovsky A.A. 2012. Subfamily Arvicolinae // Pavlinov I.Ya. & Lissovsky A.A. (eds.). Mammals of Russia: a Taxonomic and Geographical Reference. Moscow: KMK Scientific Press. P.220–276.

Andrews P. 1990. Owls, caves and fossils: predation, preservation and accumulation of small mammal bones in caves, with an analysis of the Pleistocene cave faunas from Westbury-sub-Mendip. Somerset, UK: University of Chicago Press. Chicago. 231 p.

Belkin V.I. & Ryazanov I.V. 1972. [Concept and measures of granulometric sorting and homogeneity] // Materials of V Komi Republican Scientific Conference. Syktyvkar: Geoprint, Vol.5. P.184–185 [in Russian].

Bobretsov A.V. 2020. [Small mammals of the middle reaches of the Pechorskaya Pizhma River: structure and population dynamics] // Bulletin of IB Komi SC Ural Branch RAS. Vol.3–4. P.2–9 [in Russian].

Borodin A.V., Kourova T.P. & Markova E.A. 2005. [Dimensional characteristics of molar teeth in Clethrionomys (Craseomys) rufocanus, Cl. (Clethrionomys) glareolus, Cl. (Cl.) rutilus (Arvicolinae, Rodentia) and their use for species identification] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.84. No.2. P.236–244 [in Russian].

Erdtman G. 1992. Erdtman’s Handbook of Palynology. 2nd ed. Nilsson S. & Praglowski J. (eds.). Copenhagen. 580 p.

Fransson T., Jansson L., Kolehmainen T., Kroon C. & Wenninger T. 2017. EURING list of longevity records for European birds. Stockholm, Swedish Museum of Natural History, EURING. https://euring.org/data-and-codes/longevity-list

Grichuk V.P. & Zaklinskaya E.D. 1948. [Analysis of Fossil Pollen and Spores and its Application in Paleogeography]. Moscow: OGIZ GEOGRAFGIZ. 224 p. [in Russian].

Heisler L.M., Somers C.M. & Poulin R. G. 2016. Owl pellets: a more effective alternative to conventional trapping for broad-scale studies of small mammal communities // Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Vol.7. P.96–103.

Kachinsky N.A. 1958. [Mechanical and microaggregate composition of soil, methods of its study]. Moscow: AN SSSR. 192 p. [in Russian].

Kryštufek B., Tesakov A.S., Lebedev V.S., Bannikova A.A., Abramson N.I. & Shenbrot G. 2020. Back to the future: the proper name for red-backed voles is Clethrionomys Tilesius and not Myodes Pallas // Mammalia. Vol.84. No.2. P.214–217.

Lashchenkova A.N. & Nepomilueva N.I. 1982. [Rare plant communities of the Middle Timan in need of protection] // Trudy Komi filiala Akademii nauk SSSR. Vol.58. P.28–36 [in Russian].

Lashchenkova A.N. 1959. [Note on the flora of limestones of the Pizhma River] // Proceedings of the Komi Branch of All-Union Geographical Society. Vol.5. P.107–110 [in Russian].

Mayhew D.F. 1977. Avian predators as accumulators of fossil mammal material // Boreas. Vol.6. No.1. P.25–31.

Pokrovskaya I.M. 1950. [Laboratory processing of samples for pollen analysis] // Pollen Analysis. Moscow: State Publishing House of Geological Literature. P.29–45 [in Russian].

Rukhin L.B. 1969. [Fundamentals of Lithology. The Doctrine of Sedimentary Rocks]. Leningrad: Nedra. 778 p. [in Russian].

Smirnov N.G. & Sadykova N.O. 2003. [Sources of errors during faunistic reconstructions in Quaternary paleozoology] // Ushakova K.I. (ed.). [Quaternary Paleozoology in the Urals]. Ekaterinburg: Izdadelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta. P.98–115 [in Russian].

Teteryuk B.Yu., Teteryuk L.V., Kanev V.A. & Syamtomova A. 2002. [Commanded to preserve: flora, vegetation and condition of rare species of the Reserve “Svetly”]. https://ib.komisc.ru/add/old/t/ru/ir/vt/02-61/07.html [in Russian].

Download PDF