Doctoral Dissertation Research: Micromammal Paleoecology: Past and Present Relationships Between African Small Mammals and their Habitats

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Under the direction of Dr. Curtis Marean, Mr. Denne Reed will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct 14 months of field research in northern Tanzania and study the foraging behavior of two species of owl - the barn owl (Tyto alba) and spotted eagle owl (Buo africanus) - in a variety of environmental contexts. The goal of the research is to determine the relationships between environment, foraging behavior and prey skeletal remains. Owls feed primarily on small rodents which they swallow whole. They later regurgitate the prey hair, bones and other indigestible remains in the form of a "pellet" which most often drops to the ground below their nesting or roosting area. Owls often live in caves or other sheltered environments and abundant numbers of pellets are incorporated into the ground deposits. Because prehistoric people also lived in such sites, owl pellets are often found intermixed with archaeological remains. Most small rodents have very specific and limited habitat requirements and thus owl pellets can be used to reconstruct the prehistoric environments within which people lived. Scientists however do not yet know how sensitive an indicator this provides, the hunting range of African owl species or the effects of rodent abundance and microhabitat diversity the species represented in pellets. Mr. Reed will attempt to fill these gaps.In his study Mr. Reed will trap two species of owl and attach radio tracking devices to determine hunting range. Working with satellite maps, he will map vegetation types within individual areas and ground truth them. He will then collect pellets below individual nests and roosts and develop a key to identify the rodent species they contain. With these data it will then be possible to determine the utility of pellet analysis in environmental reconstruction and develop effective procedures to achieve this goal. The research is important not only to archaeologists but to a range of paleoenvironmental and ecological specialists. The project will also assist in training a promising young scientist.