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

博士论文研究：微型哺乳动物古生态学：非洲小型哺乳动物及其栖息地的过去和现在的关系

• 批准号: 9813706
• 负责人: Curtis Marean
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-11-15 至 1999-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9813706&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Micromammal; Paleoecology

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.

在Curtis Marian博士的指导下，Denne Reed先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在坦桑尼亚北方进行为期14个月的实地研究，研究两种猫头鹰--仓鸮（Tyto alba）和斑点鹰鸮（Buo africanus）--在各种环境背景下的觅食行为。研究的目的是确定环境，觅食行为和猎物骨骼遗骸之间的关系。猫头鹰主要以小型啮齿类动物为食，并将其整个吞下。它们随后将猎物的毛发、骨头和其他不能消化的残余物以“小球”的形式消化掉，这些小球通常会掉到它们筑巢或栖息的地方下面的地面上。猫头鹰通常生活在洞穴或其他有遮蔽的环境中，大量的颗粒被纳入地面沉积物中。由于史前人类也生活在这样的遗址中，猫头鹰的颗粒经常与考古遗迹混合在一起。大多数小型啮齿动物对栖息地的要求非常具体和有限，因此猫头鹰的颗粒可以用来重建人类生活的史前环境。然而，科学家们还不知道这一指标的敏感程度，非洲猫头鹰物种的狩猎范围或啮齿动物丰度和微栖息地多样性的影响，这些物种在颗粒中代表。里德先生将试图填补这些空白。在他的研究中，里德先生将诱捕两种猫头鹰，并安装无线电跟踪装置以确定狩猎范围。通过卫星地图，他将绘制个别地区的植被类型并进行地面实况调查。然后，他将收集单个巢穴和栖息地下面的颗粒，并开发一个关键来识别它们包含的啮齿动物物种。有了这些数据，就有可能确定颗粒分析在环境重建中的效用，并制定有效的程序来实现这一目标。这项研究不仅对考古学家很重要，而且对一系列古环境和生态专家也很重要。该项目还将协助培训一名有前途的青年科学家。