Mammals in MZNA-VERT: pellet sampling

Occurrence
Latest version published by University of Navarra – Department of Environmental Biology on Nov 30, 2018 University of Navarra – Department of Environmental Biology

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 73,574 records in English (960 KB) - Update frequency: annually
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Description

This collection includes information of small mammals' records obtained from the analysis of barn owl pellets. Most of the material has been collected in the region of Navarra, Spain, although other localities of the Iberian Peninsula are also included. The collection is stored in the holdings of the Museum of Zoology of the University of Navarra (MZNA) and is composed by skulls, mandibles and few skeletons of 36 species of more than 72000 georeferenced specimens. Records date from 1967 to the present covering a period of 50 years. Thus, this collection can be used in studies dealing with distribution patterns of small mammals and their changes over time which can be interesting and useful in conservation planning. The data set is available in GBIF.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 73,574 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

MZNA (2016): Mammals in MZNA-VERT: pellet sampling. v2.4. University of Navarra, Museum of Zoology. Dataset/Occurrence. http://www.gbif.es/ipt/resource?r=mzna_vert_mast_mmeg&v=2.4

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is University of Navarra – Department of Environmental Biology. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 95ed1fa5-2923-4459-836b-11ad8cc4bf42.  University of Navarra – Department of Environmental Biology publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Spain.

Keywords

Occurrence; Specimen; Navarra; Iberian Peninsula; Barn owl pellets; Rodentia; Soricomorpha; MZNA

Contacts

MZNA Museum of Zoology
  • Originator
Institution
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
34 948 425 600
Nora Escribano Compains
  • Metadata Provider
  • Author
PhD student
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
948425600
David Galicia
  • Author
  • Point Of Contact
Professor
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
948425600
Carmen Escala
  • Principal Investigator
Tenured Professor
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
948425600
Arturo H. Ariño
  • Custodian Steward
Professor
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
948425600
Ana Amézcua
  • Curator
Technician
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
948425600
Ángel Chaves
  • Curator
Technician
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
948425600
María Imas
  • Curator
Technician
University of Navarra
Irunlarrea, 1
31008 Pamplona
Navarra
ES
948425600

Geographic Coverage

The collection is primarily formed by specimens from the region of Navarra (75,38%), north of Spain. It also contains specimens from other administrative territories of Spain such as Huesca, Zaragoza and Cáceres.

Bounding Coordinates South West [35.72, -9.56], North East [43.95, 3.28]

Taxonomic Coverage

All specimens were identified to genus or species level (when possible) using skull’s external morphology, teeth features and looking at suitable literature (Gosálbez 1987, Niethammer and Krapp 1978, 1982, 1990). Mandibles found separated from skulls were generally identified to family level and stored as well as the other remains. The collection is composed of 5 orders, 10 families and 36 species. Rodents and soricomorphs almost constitute the entire collection. The most abundant families are Muridae and Soricidae, being 39.66% and 31.67% respectively, followed by Cricetidae with 28.51% of the total records. Information about bats, lagomorphs and carnivores is scarce representing less than 1% of the collection.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora, Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Rodentia, Soricomorpha
Family Cricetidae, Gliridae, Leporidae, Molossidae, Muridae, Mustelidae, Rhinolophidae, Soricidae, Talpidae, Vespertilionidae
Genus Apodemus, Arvicola, Chionomys, Crocidura, Eliomys, Glis, Lepus, Microtus, Mus, Mustela, Myodes, Myotis, Neomys, Oryctolagus, Pipistrellus, Plecotus, Rattus, Rhinolophus
Species Apodemus sp, Apodemus flavicollis (Yellow-necked field mouse), Apodemus sylvaticus (Long-tailed field mouse), Arvicola sp, Arvicola sapidus (Southwestern water vole), Arvicola terrestris (Eurasian water vole), Chionomys nivalis (European snow vole), Crocidura sp, Crocidura russula (Greater white-toothed shrew), Crocidura suaveolens (Lesser white-toothed shrew), Eliomys quercinus (Garden dormouse), Glis glis (Fat dormouse), Lepus sp, Micromys minutus (Harvest mouse), Microtus sp, Microtus agrestis (Fiedl vole), Microtus arvalis (Common vole), Microtus cabrerae (Cabrera's vole), Microtus duodecimcostatus (Mediterranean pine vole), Microtus gerbei (Pyreneean pine vole), Microtus lusitanicus (Lusitanian pine vole), Mus sp, Mus domesticus (House mouse), Mus spretus (Western meditarrean mouse), Mustela nivalis (Least weasel), Myodes glareolus (Bank vole), Myotis myotis (Greater-mouse-eared bat), Neomys sp, Neomys anomalus (Mediterranean water shrew), Neomys fodiens (Eurasian water shrew), Oryctolagus cuniculus (European rabbit), Pipistrellus sp, Pipistrellus kuhlii (Kuhl's pipistrelle), Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Common pipistrelle), Plecotus austriacus (Gray long-eared bat), Rattus sp, Rattus norvegicus (Brown rat), Rattus rattus (Roof rat), Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (Greater horsehoe bat), Rhinolophus hipposideros (Lesser horsehoe bat), Sorex sp, Sorex araneus (Common shrew), Sorex coronatus (Millet's shrew), Sorex granarius (Iberian shrew), Sorex minutus (Eurasian pygmy shrew), Suncus etruscus (Etruscan shrew), Tadarida sp, Talpa sp, Talpa europaea (European mole), Talpa occidentalis (Spanish mole)

Temporal Coverage

Living Time Period 1968-present

Project Data

Most of the specimens come from the main sampling effort made between 1991 and 1993 in order to publish the ‘Atlas de los insectívoros y roedores de Navarra. Análisis biogeográfico’ (Escala et al., 1997) funded by Gobierno de Navarra. Consejero de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Nowadays this collection is growing as a result of the establishment of a monitoring network based on pellet sampling. This network, started in 2015, is constrained mainly to the middle area of Navarra and yearly provides more than 30 new sampling points. Records of this network are periodically incorporated to the dataset. The collection also contains records provided by different sources such as student’s works, PhD researches and occasional pellet sampling.

Title Biogeografical analysis of the small mammal community in Navarra
Funding Part of the collection was funded by Gobierno de Navarra, Departamento de Educación, Cultura y Deportes.
Study Area Description Navarra is located in the north of Spain between the western end of the Pyrenees and the Ebro’s basin covering an area of 10391 km2. Due to its location and topography, Navarra is characterized with a wide range of climates varying from the oceanic to mediterranean climate (Loidi and Báscones 1995). High diversity of flora and fauna is associated to Navarra owing to its particular location and varied climatic conditions. Specifically Navarra harbours most of the small mammals biodiversity found in Iberian Peninsula.
Design Description Navarra was divided in 134 cells of 10x10Km resolution. Each cell were sampled for barn owl pellets. Sampling sites were typically churches where it was easier to find barn owl’s roosts and nests. Pellets were collected mainly in two periods. Northern and southern half of Navarra were sampled in consecutive years between 1991 and 1992. More pellets were incorporated irregularly to the collection during the next years until 2015, when a systematic sampling procedure was put in practice to register temporal changes in small mammals communities.

The personnel involved in the project:

Carmen Escala
  • Principal Investigator

Sampling Methods

There is not a standardized sampling protocol. Pellets were generally collected from barn owl nests and roosts found in churches and barns from villages. Pellets were transported to the laboratory in bags and then frozen to remove bugs. Afterwards, they were dissected separating skulls and mandibles from the remains. Specimens were identified using a stereoscopic microscope and appropriate literature (Gosálbez 1987, Niethammer and Krapp 1978, 1990). Once identified, they were placed in plastic bags with their unique identification number and stored in the MZNA facilities.

Study Extent The collection has specimens from 333 localities from Iberian Peninsula but more than three fourths parts of the material come from Navarra and surroundings. Navarra is located in the north of Spain between the western end of the Pyrenees and the Ebro’s basin reaching 10391 km2. Due to its location and topography, Navarra is characterized with a wide range of climates varying from the oceanic to mediterranean climate (Loidi and Báscones 1995). North half of Navarra belongs to Eurosiberian region and the other to Mediterranean which mostly differ s from Eurosiberian by the presence of a drought period in summer (Rivas-Martínez 1987). High diversity of flora and fauna in Navarra derives from this transition from Eurosiberian to Mediterranean bioregion in a relative small distance of 161 km from north to south (Loidi and Báscones 1995).
Quality Control All specimens are deposited in the Zoological Museum of the University of Navarra (MZNA, Pamplona, Spain) in ‘Pellet sampling’ collection. Identification of most of specimens was verified in the laboratory by Carmen Escala using suitable literature (Gosálbez 1987, Niethammer and Krapp 1978, 1982, 1990). Scientific names were validated according to Mammal Species of the World (Wilson and Reeder 2005, Palomo et al. 2007). Unique collections’ accession numbers were assigned to each specimen. Coordinates in UTM/MGRS were transformed to geographic system. The consistency of all records was checked by visual inspection overlapping coordinates with a Europe map using GIS (Chapman 2005) and their uncertainty was calculated in metres using the point-radius method.

Method step description:

  1. The ‘Pellet sampling’ collection started in the sixties but most of the sampling effort was made between 1968 and 1993 in order to elaborate the ‘Atlas de los insectívoros y roedores de Navarra. Análisis biogeográfico’ (Escala et al., 1997). During all this period there have also been contributions from different sources: research projects, PhD researches, student’s works, donations, volunteers and occasional pellet sampling. The number of specimens has increased all these years reaching more than 73000 records. Material brought to the laboratory was processed, identified and placed in plastic bags. Once identified, data of each specimen was systematically incorporated to MZNA database (Zootron v4.5, Ariño 1991).

Collection Data

Collection Name Muestreos de egagrópilas
Collection Identifier http://www.gbif.org/dataset/95ed1fa5-2923-4459-836b-11ad8cc4bf42
Parent Collection Identifier http://www.gbif.es/ic_colecciones.php?ID_Coleccion=10169
Specimen preservation methods Dried
Curatorial Units Count 73,574 +/- 1 zip plastic bags

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Ariño AH (1991) Bibliography of Iberian Polychaetes: a data base. Ophelia, suppl. 5: 647–652.
  2. Chapman, A. D. (2005). Principles and methods of data cleaning (p. 72). Copenhagen. 84-85256-68-9
  3. Escala, C., Irurzun, J. C., Rueda, A., & Ariño, A. H. (1997). Atlas de los Insectívoros y Roedores de Navarra. Análisis biogeográfico. Serie Zoologica, 25, 1–79.
  4. Gosálbez, J., 1987. Insectivors i rosegadors de Catalunya. Ketres, Barcelona. 241 pp.
  5. Loidi, J., & Báscones, J. C. (1995). Memoria del mapa de series de vegetación de Navarra. E 1:200.000 (p. 111). Gobierno de Navarra. Departamento de Medio Ambiente, Ordenacion del Territorio y Vivienda.
  6. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed). Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (editors).Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp
  7. Niethammer, J., y Krapp, F., 1978. Handbuch der Säugetiere Europas, Band 1, Rodentia I. Akademische
  8. Niethammer, J., y Krapp, F., 1982. Handbuch der Säugetiere Europas, Band 2/I: Nagetiere II. Aula – Verlag, Wiesbaden. 649 pp.
  9. Niethammer, J., y Krapp, F., 1990. Handbuch der Säugetiere Europas, Band 3/1, Insectivora- Primates. Aula - Verlag, Wiesbaden. 524 pp.
  10. Palomo, L. J., Gisbert, J., & Blanco, J. C. (2007). Atlas y libro rojo de los mamíferos terrestres de España (p. 588). Madrid: Dirección General para la Biodiversidad-SECEM-SECEMU.
  11. Rivas-Martínez, S. (1987). Memoria del mapa de series de vegetación de España (1:400000). Madrid: ICONA.

Additional Metadata

The Museum of Zoology (MZNA) was founded in 1980 as a repository of zoological materials originating from research and instructional activities of the department of Environmental Biology (proviously known as the department of Zoology and Ecology) of the University of Navarra. Nowadays MZNA store more than two millions specimens in its climate-controlled facilities. The Museum is a Data Provider for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and is an Affiliate to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). The Museum is also in charge of the curation and management of the Natural History Collections of the School of Science of the University of Navarra (Spain). MZNA attends to reserchers around the world, make loans and accepts deposits.

Purpose The aim of the present data set is to provide all information of the records of small mammals from barn owl pellets stored in MZNA. Due to the different sources of the samples, an effort to standardize those records has been made in order to share them through GBIF.
Maintenance Description As a result of the establishment of a monitoring network based on pellets, we will update new records anually.
Alternative Identifiers doi:10.15470/qomfu6
95ed1fa5-2923-4459-836b-11ad8cc4bf42
https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=mzna_vert_mast_mmeg