Mammals in Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) pellets from Kharkiv Region, Ukraine

Study Extent

Three study areas are located at the southern border of East European forest-steppe ecoregion. First study area in the National Nature Park Homilsha Forests is located in a part of a larger oak-dominated broadleaved forest with mean stand age 80-120 years surrounded by rural areas or riverine habitats. Second study area in Kharkiv Forest Park in located in the northern part of the city in oak-dominated broadleaved forest with mean age 60–100 years surrounded by built-up areas. Third study area is located in National Nature Park Slobozhanskyi in pine forest with mean age 50-90 years adjoining with river valley and oak-domianted forest with mean ages 80-120 years. Each “event” site denominates pellet sampling location under/inside nest box or tree cavity. According to mapping of Tawny owl territories, prey found in pellets may have been collected within 350-400 m radius of each sampling point.

Sampling

Field surveys were made between April 2004 and November 2014 in Homilsha Forest NNP, between May 2011 and March 2015 in Kharkiv Forest Park and between April 2013 and May 2017 in NNP Slobozhanskyi. In Homilsha Forest NNP and in Kharkiv Forest Park pellets were collected during regular checks of nest boxes and all known tree cavities. In the first territory all sites were visited three times a year: in mid-April, beginning of July, and late November or early December. In the second area all sites were visited two times a year: in April-May and in November-December. All pellets were collected during each check which allowed us to separate samples by seasons. In NNP Slobozhanskyi, pellets were sampled only occasionally under cavity trees or on the ground. Prey species were identified following the taxonomic keys, the maximal number of individuals for each vertebrate prey species was determined as the maximal number of upper and lower jaws. When it was impossible to identify remains from pellets to species level, they were assigned to higher-level genus or family level. Remains of voles from Microtus “arvalis” group were treated as the East European vole (Microtus levis Miller, 1908) in accordance with previous karyological studies in the studied region. Unidentified remains of mice (assigned to category Muridae) belonged to each of two genera, Mus or small Apodemus. Category Apodemus includes either A. sylvaticus, or A. uralensis as both species can occur in the region but it was not possible to distinguish between them based on bone remains present. Two remains of Mustela sp. probably belong to M. nivalis. Remains of Soricidae represent small shrews, either Sorex or Crocidura.

Quality Control

Pellet samples were identified by the authors with consultations from the specialists from the Crimea Plague Control Station, Kharkiv Sanitary-Epidemiological Station and Kharkiv National University. The authors of the dataset are fully responsible for the quality of the published data.

Method steps

1. Collecting pellets in the field.
2. Dissection of pellets in the laboratory.
3. Identification of bone remains.
4. Georeferencing and creating of the lists of registered species and specimens.
5. Organizing of the dataset according to the DarwinCore standards.

The dataset consists of records of mammals only.

1. Mammalia
   rank: class
2. Soricomorpha
   rank: order
3. Soricidae
   rank: family
4. Sorex araneus Linnaeus, 1758
   rank: species
5. Sorex minutus Linnaeus, 1766
   rank: species
6. Crocidura suaveolens (Pallas, 1811)
   rank: species
7. Neomys fodiens (Pennant, 1771)
   rank: species
8. Talpidae
   rank: family
9. Talpa europaea Linnaeus, 1758
   rank: species
10. Chiroptera
    rank: order
11. Vespertilionidae
    rank: family
12. Myotis Kaup, 1829
    rank: genus
13. Pipistrellus Kaup, 1829
    rank: genus
14. Vespertilio murinus Linnaeus, 1758
    rank: species
15. Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774)
    rank: species
16. Plecotus auritus (Linnaeus, 1758)
    rank: species
17. Carnivora
    rank: order
18. Mustelidae
    rank: family
19. Mustela Linnaeus, 1758
    rank: genus
20. Lagomorpha
    rank: order
21. Leporidae
    rank: family
22. Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778
    rank: species
23. Rodentia
    rank: order
24. Gliridae
    rank: family
25. Dryomys nitedula (Pallas, 1778)
    rank: species
26. Cricetidae
    rank: family
27. Cricetulus migratorius (Pallas, 1773)
    rank: species
28. Myodes glareolus (Schreber, 1780)
    rank: species
29. Arvicola amphibius (Linnaeus, 1758)
    rank: species
30. Microtus Schrank, 1798
    rank: genus
31. Microtus levis Miller, 1908
    rank: species
32. Microtus subterraneus (Selys-Longchamps, 1836)
    rank: species
33. Microtus oeconomus (Pallas, 1776)
    rank: species
34. Muridae
    rank: family
35. Rattus Fischer, 1803
    rank: genus
36. Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769)
    rank: species
37. Mus spicilegus Petényi, 1882
    rank: species
38. Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758
    rank: species
39. Apodemus Kaup, 1829
    rank: genus
40. Apodemus agrarius (Pallas, 1771)
    rank: species
41. Apodemus flavicollis (Melchior, 1834)
    rank: species
42. Micromys minutus (Pallas, 1771)
    rank: species

The dataset covers the area of central and northern part of Kharkiv region, Ukraine.