E inside the Caribbean islands, and commensal CC-90011 Biological Activity rodents (Dasyprocta spp., Rattus spp., Mus musculus) have mainly been introduced throughout the final few millennia by human populations throughout unique waves of settlement [170]. Before these rodents arrived and their populations expanded, predators definitely had to exploit the locally accessible prey species (bats, birds, amphibians and squamates). Within this context, it is for that reason significant to superior characterize the taphonomic impact of raptors around the anatomical and faunal representation from the complete diversity of their available prey species. This is mandatory to better comprehend the history and representativeness on the Caribbean fossil and subfossil microvertebrate assemblages. Extra generally, multi-taxa taphonomic analyses remain rare [15,213] and deserve to become significantly developed. The present study has a number of ambitions: (1) to supply new data around the taphonomic modifications caused by Tyto insularis on bone assemblage of MCC950 Autophagy Lesser Antillean prey species; (two) to test the effectiveness, reliability and reproducibility of your selected taphonomic strategy by involving quite a few observers who specialize in diverse taxa (rodents, bats, squamates and birds); and (three) to propose a trusted and simplified methodology for multi-taxa neotaphonomic analyses that’s potentially transposable to fossil and sub-fossil assemblages. two. Components and Methods two.1. Owl pellets Sampling For this study, a total of 111 pellets developed by the Lesser Antillean Barn Owl (Tyto insularis) have been collected in June 2014 (at the starting in the rainy season) and January 2015 (at the starting with the dry season) in three coastal localities around the island of Dominica (Figure 1): 34 pellets within a church tower at Salisbury (n = 5 in 2014; n = 29 in 2015), 50 pellets in a compact cave close to Canefield (n = 43 in 2014; n = 7 in 2015), and 27 pellets inside a church tower at Grand Bay (n = 24 in 2014; n = three in 2015). Salisbury and Grand Bay are located in fairly rural places, while Canefield is situated in a far more urban location. Whole pellets and bulk material have been collected around the ground in nests (Grand Bay, Canefield) or beneath roosts (Salisbury). Only pellets were considered within the present study. The whole pellets had been isolated inside a bag marked having a distinct quantity. Every single bag was then prepared individually: the pellets had been soaked in water along with the bones carefully extracted with fine pliers. The bones have been then dried and packed in individually marked tubes so that each and every bone could be cross-referenced to the pellet from which it came. two.two. Prey Identification Bat and rodent species had been identified through size and morphology of skulls, mandibles and post-cranial elements, thanks to data from the literature [13,247] and modern day osteological collections (PACEA UMR 5199, Universitde Bordeaux; Mus m national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France). The physique mass was estimated as outlined by [28]. Bird remains weren’t identified at the species level, mostly due to a lack of suitable reference collection, but also due to the unawareness of osteological characters permitting to identify smaller Passeriformes, especially when the preservation state from the material prevents the observation of peculiar anatomical criteria. However, we observed that the majority in the birds belong to little Passeriformes, followed by rare hummingbirds as well as a single Widespread Ground Dove, Columbina passerina. Bird remains were assigned to size/weight classes (see infra) utilizing some mod.
