E within the Caribbean islands, and commensal rodents (Dasyprocta spp., Rattus spp., Mus musculus) have mainly been introduced throughout the last handful of millennia by human populations through various waves of settlement [170]. Prior to these rodents arrived and their populations expanded, predators obviously had to exploit the locally readily available prey species (bats, birds, amphibians and squamates). Within this context, it truly is for that reason significant to far better characterize the taphonomic influence of raptors Y-27632 supplier around the anatomical and faunal representation of the entire diversity of their offered prey species. That is mandatory to greater fully grasp the history and representativeness on the Caribbean fossil and subfossil microvertebrate assemblages. More normally, multi-taxa taphonomic analyses remain rare [15,213] and deserve to become significantly created. The present study has various targets: (1) to supply new data around the taphonomic modifications triggered by Tyto insularis on bone assemblage of Lesser Antillean prey species; (2) to test the effectiveness, reliability and reproducibility in the selected taphonomic approach by involving numerous observers who specialize in distinctive taxa (rodents, bats, squamates and birds); and (3) to propose a trusted and simplified methodology for multi-taxa neotaphonomic analyses which is potentially transposable to fossil and sub-fossil assemblages. two. Components and Procedures two.1. Owl Pellets Sampling For this study, a total of 111 pellets made by the Lesser Antillean Barn Owl (Tyto insularis) have been collected in June 2014 (in the beginning of your rainy season) and January 2015 (at the beginning from 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 tiny 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 = 3 in 2015). Salisbury and Grand Bay are situated in somewhat rural areas, although Canefield is situated inside a more urban location. Complete pellets and bulk material have been collected on the ground in nests (Grand Bay, Canefield) or beneath roosts (Salisbury). Only pellets had been viewed as within the present study. The entire pellets had been isolated within a bag marked using a specific quantity. Every bag was then ready individually: the pellets had been soaked in water and the bones carefully extracted with fine pliers. The bones have been then dried and packed in individually marked tubes so that each bone may very well be cross-referenced to the pellet from which it came. 2.2. Prey Identification Bat and rodent species were identified by way of size and morphology of skulls, mandibles and post-cranial components, thanks to data in 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 Brequinar web outlined by [28]. Bird remains weren’t identified in the species level, mainly due to a lack of appropriate reference collection, but in addition due to the unawareness of osteological characters allowing to determine small Passeriformes, especially when the preservation state on the material prevents the observation of peculiar anatomical criteria. Even so, we observed that the majority with the birds belong to smaller Passeriformes, followed by rare hummingbirds plus a single Widespread Ground Dove, Columbina passerina. Bird remains have been assigned to size/weight classes (see infra) applying some mod.
