Landscape structure and its implications for the taphonomy of prey remains contained in pellets of Athene cunicularia: a case study from the Chaco Seco, Córdoba

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the taxonomic and taphonomic differences between the micromammal assemblages contained in pellets of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) recovered from four nests sampled at different points of a field located in Minas Department, northwest of the province of Córdoba, within the dry Chaco. Thus, we propose to explore and evaluate the influence of the microenvironments (composition and vegetation cover) immediately surrounding each nest on the taxonomic structure of the recovered micromammal assemblages, providing tools to reinforce paleoenvironmental inferences in contexts with human occupations at a regional scale. In addition to the analysis of the pellets, we incorporated sampling and field identification of vegetation along with the application of geomatics tools on satellite images. The results of the comparison between the different analyses indicate a variation in the presence/absence of micromammal species between the four nests sampled. In line with the above, we propose that the general composition of the landscape structure (sparser vegetation vs. denser vegetation) would be the main cause of these variations. The results of the taphonomic analyses revealed high relative abundance indices, high fragmentation and high proportions of digested remains. The intensities of digestion ranged from light to heavy. No extreme modifications were observed