Number Of Prey Items Research Articles

New record and dietary ecology of an endangered amphibian species, Micryletta nigromaculata Poyarkov, Nguyen, Duong, Gorin & Yang, 2018, from Vietnam

The Black-spotted Paddy Frog (Micryletta nigromaculata) was recently discovered from northern Vietnam. Due to its restricted distribution in limestone karst forests and habitat degradation, the endemic species has been listed as “Endangered” in the IUCN Red List. However, knowledge about the natural history of this species is scarce, including data on its dietary ecology. Recent field surveys revealed new populations of M. nigromaculata occurring in Son La Province, northwestern Vietnam based on morphological analysis. Using the stomach-flushing method, we analyzed stomach contents of 45 individuals (21 males and 24 females) from a total of 52 captured frogs because stomachs of six males and one female (13.5%) were empty. The food spectrum of M. nigromaculata comprises 12 types with a total of 691 prey items (687 invertebrate items and four unidentified items), belonging to six insect orders, larvae and Araneae. Similar to other species of the family Microhylidae, M. nigromaculata is also identified as an ant (Formicidae) – termite (Rhinotermitidae) eating specialist with distinctly higher percentages of occurrence frequency (F = 65 %), number of prey items (N = 80 %), and importance (Ix = 75 %) than those of remaining types. The Simpson diversity index of 0.939 shows a high abundance of food prey in the wild, and the Evenness index of 0.536 suggests biased consumption of feeding selection for M. nigromaculata.

Juvenile Parasagitta setosa (J. Müller, 1847) (Chaetognatha) from Shallow Waters of the Southern Black Sea: Temporal Size Structure, Gonad Maturity, and Gut Content

The present study aimed to assess the abundance, body length, maturity stage, and gut content of Parasagitta setosa in the southern Black Sea, Turkey. The study was conducted twice a month from January 2008 to December 2008. Vertical hauls with a 112 μm mesh size plankton net were used from a depth of 50 m to the surface of the Sinop coast. During the study period, the abundance of this species was generally low, varying between 10 and 980 ind.m-2. In particular, the abundance of P. setosa was low from December to July but increased from August. Small size individuals were predominated, with both 1 – 1.99 mm and 2 – 2.99 mm size classes accounting for 62% of the total P. setosa sample. Four developmental stages were determined based on ovary and seminal vesicle development. Stage I (immature) was the predominant developmental stage in the P. setosa population. A total of 1580 individuals were dissected; however, only 53 individuals had food items in their gut (3.4%), with copepods (54.73%) accounting for the predominant group the food content. It was determined that the abundance values and feeding ratios of P. setosa were low in the coastal area of Sinop and new individuals join in the population during the summer-autumn period.

Diet of juveniles and adults of the Cuban Giant Frog, Eleutherodactylus zeus (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae)

Anurans are gape-limited predators and therefore larger individuals are capable of consuming larger prey. Stomach contents of the Cuban Giant Frog, Eleutherodactylus zeus, from caves in the northeastern-most part of the Sierra de Quemados in Viñales National Park, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba, were indicative of ontogenetic changes in diet. Although niche overlap among size classes was relatively high, larger frogs consumed larger but fewer prey items. Predator and prey sizes were positively correlated in both adults and juveniles, whereas predator size and number of prey items per stomach was negatively correlated.

Provisioning behavior of male and female Loggerhead Shrikes

The unique predatory, caching, and impaling behaviors of shrikes (Laniidae) may provide these unusual passerines with alternative provisioning strategies compared to other songbirds, but few studies have determined the impact these unique behaviors have on provisioning rates. Our objectives were to compare the provisioning behavior of male and female Loggerhead Shrikes ( Lanius ludovicianus), and determine how their provisioning behavior was influenced by nestling age. The provisioning behavior of six pairs of Loggerhead Shrikes was videotaped from 15 April to 15 August 2004–2007 in Garrard and Madison counties, Kentucky, USA. For each nest visit by a shrike, the sex of the visiting adult, number of prey items delivered, size of prey, type of prey, and the duration of the nest visit were recorded. Adults made 2169 visits to nests, with males (49%) and females (51%) making similar numbers of visits. Males and females differed in time spent at nests, with males spending less time at nests per visit (mean = 12.0 s, N = 1062) than females (77.0 s, N = 1107). Feeding rates did not differ between the sexes, but feeding rates did increase with nestling age. The size of prey delivered to nestlings also tended to increase with nestling age. Invertebrates comprised 65% of the identified prey items, and cached items made up the remaining 35%. Although many passerine species increase provisioning rates as nestling demand increases, the caching behavior of shrikes may allow adults to reliably increase both feeding rates and prey size as nestling age and demand increase as well as act as buffers when prey availability declines. The caching behavior of shrikes provides them with parental provisioning strategies not available to non-caching songbirds.

Habitat restoration for brown trout (Salmo trutta) has limited effects on macroinvertebrate communities in a historically metal-contaminated stream.

Quantifying the success of stream remediation or restoration projects that are designed to improve water quality or habitat, respectively, is often challenging because of insufficient posttreatment monitoring, poorly defined restoration goals, and failure to consider fundamental aspects of ecological theory. We measured the effects of habitat restoration on aquatic and terrestrial prey resources in a system recovering from the long-term effects of mining pollution. The study was conducted in the Upper Arkansas River, a Rocky Mountain stream located in central Colorado, USA. Remediation of California Gulch, a United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Superfund Site that discharged metals from past mining operations into the stream, was completed in 2000, resulting in significant improvements in water quality, benthic macroinvertebrate communities, and brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations. A large-scale restoration project designed to improve habitat and increase the density and biomass of brown trout was completed in 2014. To assess the effectiveness of these habitat improvements on invertebrate communities in this system, we sampled sites for 9 years before (2010-2014) and after (2015-2018) restoration was completed. In contrast to our expectations, we observed few changes in the abundance of aquatic or terrestrial invertebrates after restoration. The most common response was an overall reduction in abundance resulting from significant instream disturbances during and immediately after restoration, followed by a gradual return to pretreatment conditions. Despite reductions in prey abundance, the number of prey items in the diet of brown trout increased significantly after restoration. We discuss several explanations for these responses, including the effects of residual metals, increased predation by brown trout, and the recalcitrance of novel communities dominated by metal-tolerant species. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of remediation and restoration differed between macroinvertebrates and fish. Benthic macroinvertebrates were more dependent on water quality improvements at the watershed scale, whereas brown trout populations responded to both improvements in water quality and reach-scale improvements in habitat.Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1047-1055. © 2021 SETAC.

Seasonal and intra-populational diet variation in the Colombian Swamp frog Pseudopaludicola pusilla (Anura Leptodactylidae)

Diet is a fundamental aspect of the ecological niche of amphibians and usually varies intra-specifically in response to extrinsic environmental and intrinsic individual factors. Phenotypic variations among individuals can generate intrapopulation differences in trophic resource use, which could have important ecological and evolutionary implications in amphibian populations. Here, we studied the intrapopulation dietary variation of the frog Pseudopaludicola pusilla in an anthropic savanna of the Colombian Caribbean region, considering the effects of seasonality and sex on the size, amount, prey composition and dietary individual specialization. We collected 44 adult frogs during the dry season and 46 during the rainy season and analyzed their stomach contents to determine their dietary composition. Our results indicate that P. pusilla is a generalist and opportunist predator, feeding mainly on insects of the orders Orthoptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera, which were the most important prey categories due to their numeric, volumetric and frequency contributions. We observed seasonal variations regarding volumetric prey composition and the importance value of each prey category in the populational diet. Individuals of P. pusilla consume more prey items during the rainy season and bigger prey during the dry season, but the volume of stomach contents did not vary seasonally. Males and females of P. pusilla consumed a similar number of prey items, but females ingested more voluminous prey and had greater volumes of stomach contents than males. Additionally, we observed a pattern of dietary individual specialization, which was not related to morphological trade-offs and did not differ among seasons. These findings contribute to the understanding of the seasonal dynamics of the use of trophic resources by anurans and the effect of sex on dietary characteristics of P. pusilla, in environments strongly influenced by climatic seasonality.

The diet of a forest-dependent frog species, Odorrana morafkai (Anura: Ranidae), in relation to habitat disturbance

Abstract While deforestation is one of the greatest drivers of biodiversity loss, our understanding of the effects of habitat modification on species is limited. We investigated the diet of a forest-dwelling frog species, Morafka’s frog (Odorrana morafkai), in a highland forest in Vietnam in relation to habitat disturbance, sex and season. We surveyed the species at 45 sites in forest of varying disturbance and examined its diet using stomach flushing, estimating prey availability via trapping. We detected significantly fewer O. morafkai in highly disturbed habitats compared to moderately disturbed or non-disturbed habitats. We revealed that O. morafkai is a dietary generalist, identifying 28 prey types, primarily invertebrates. Prey composition, the number of prey items per stomach and prey volume per stomach did not vary between disturbance levels. Diet did not vary significantly between sexes, except that females had a higher prey volume. Prey composition in the species varied between seasons, with Coleoptera and Orthoptera dominating the diet in the rainy season and Lepidoptera in the dry season. The number of prey items per stomach and prey volume were significantly higher in the rainy season. There was a significant correlation between prey availability and diet composition. The low number of O. morafkai detected in highly disturbed habitats suggests that this habitat may not be optimal for the species, despite having a generalist feeding strategy and presumed high mobility. This study provides a window into the impact of an increasing threat, habitat disturbance, on forest-dependent amphibian species.

The sea anemone Bunodosoma cangicum as a potential biomonitor for microplastics contamination on the Brazilian Amazon coast

This study reports for the first time the ingestion of meso- (5.01–25 mm) and microplastics (1 μm–5 mm) by the sea anemone Bunodosoma cangicum, the most abundant actiniarian species on the Amazon coast. At three sites on the coast of Pará, Brazil, anemones were collected from beachrocks in the intertidal zone (30 at each site), measured (pedal disc diameter, mm) and weighed (wet weight, g). The contents of the gastrovascular cavity were extracted and analyzed under a stereoscope. The recovered plastic particles were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Overall, 139 microplastic and 2 mesoplastic items were identified in 68 individuals (75.6%) among the 90 examined, with a mean of 1.6 (±1.5) items per individual. Plastic fibers comprised about 84% of the ingested plastics, followed by fragments (∼12%) and films (∼4%). Particle diameters ranged from 0.10 to 9.17 mm (1.57 ± 1.23 mm). A weak positive correlation was found between the weight of anemones and the number of plastic particles in the gastrovascular cavity (p = 0.03) and between the number of prey items and the number of plastic particles in the gastrovascular cavity (p < 0.01). The main polymers identified by FTIR analysis were polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), polyurethane (PU), polyethylene (PE), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polystyrene (PS) and rayon. Sea anemones ingested significantly more plastic debris at the most urbanized and populous sampling sites. This study provides the first evidence of microplastics contamination of marine invertebrates from the Amazon coast. Abundant species such as B. cangicum have the potential to monitor the levels of plastic contamination in the region. Our results support this potential, as the species showed a high frequency of plastic ingestion and allowed detection of plastic contamination even in the best-preserved area where anemones were collected.

Diet of a Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus in a transitional post-weaning phase and its implications for the conservation of the species

ESR Endangered Species Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials ESR 39:315-320 (2019) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00971 NOTE Diet of a Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus in a transitional post-weaning phase and its implications for the conservation of the species Cem Orkun Kıraç1,*, Meltem Ok2 1Underwater Research Society - Mediterranean Seal Research Group (SAD-AFAG), 06570 Ankara, Turkey 2Middle East Technical University - Institute of Marine Science (METU-IMS), Erdemli, 33731 Mersin, Turkey *Corresponding author: afag@sad.org.tr ABSTRACT: The Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus is the most endangered pinniped in the world and is considered Endangered by the IUCN. Transition from suckling to active feeding is a critical time in the development of all mammal species, and understanding the dietary requirements of seals during this vulnerable period is of value in establishing conservation measures, such as fishery regulations. This study provides unique information on the dietary habits of a moulted monk seal pup, through the opportunistic necropsy of a dead animal encountered at a very early age (5 mo). A total of 6 prey items from 2 families (Octopodidae, 90.8% and Congridae, 8.9%) were identified from stomach contents. The remaining stomach content mass consisted of fish bones from unidentified species (0.3%). The estimated age, low diversity and number of prey items in the stomach contents indicate that this individual may have been in a transition period from suckling to active feeding. The study confirms independent foraging in Mediterranean monk seals at about 5 mo of age. Given the importance of early life survival for maintaining stable Mediterranean monk seal populations, and the occurrence of an ontogenetic shift in its close relative (Hawaiian monk seal), these findings contribute to the establishment and implementation of successful conservation and management strategies for this Endangered species. KEY WORDS: Mediterranean monk seal · Monachus monachus · Diet · Stomach content · Early life stage · Conservation · Eastern Mediterranean Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousCite this article as: Kıraç CO, Ok M (2019) Diet of a Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus in a transitional post-weaning phase and its implications for the conservation of the species. Endang Species Res 39:315-320. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00971 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESR Vol. 39. Online publication date: August 22, 2019 Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796 Copyright © 2019 Inter-Research.

Activity Patterns and Feeding Ecology of the Semi-Aquatic &lt;i&gt;Varanus flavescens&lt;/i&gt; (Reptilia: Varanidae)

The study was conducted on activity patterns and feeding ecology of semi-aquatic yellow monitor ( Varanus flavescens ) in the Chalan Beel area of Bangladesh by following focal sampling method. Overall, V. flavescens spent highest proportion (37.73 ± 0.65) of their active time in moving in search of food and lowest proportion (3.05 ± 0.05) of time in conflicting. Maximum (22.80 ± 3.19) and minimum (5.82 ± 1.06) moving activity were recorded in the month of August and December respectively. Two peak feeding times; from 6.30 AM to 10.30 AM and from 3.00 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. were recorded throughout the day. Total 15 prey groups were recorded as yellow monitor’s diet. The diet consisted mainly of beetles, which comprised 15% of the number of prey items in stomach samples. Others diet comprises of spider, dragonfly, water scorpions, mole crickets, crickets, ants, fresh water crabs, grasshopper, frog, small fish, house mouse and bird eggs. Most of the activities of V. flavescens varied significantly (χ 2 test, P < 0.05) in different month in response to changing weather conditions. During heavy cold V. flavescens shows basking activity to regulate their body temperature and the highest proportion (50.48 ± 3.03) of basking activity was recorded in December. The population of V. flavescens is decreasing at an alarming rate all over Bangladesh. This warrants for further study regarding the ecology and conservation of the yellow monitor.

Фенология гнездования, родительская забота и питание птенца в гнезде большого подорлика в зоне отселения и отчуждения Чернобыльской АЭС (Беларусь) в 2018 году по данным фотоловушки

This article presents the results of using a camera trap on a nest of the Greater Spotted Eagle ( Aquila [ Clanga ] clanga ) in the Belarusian part of Chernobyl exclusion zone during the full breeding season of 2018 from the time of adult birds’ arrival to the nest until the juveniles’ departure. Data were obtained on: nest building activity; egg laying and incubation; participation of the male in incubation; time of hatching; kainism; the number of prey items and biomass; the diet of the nestling; the dynamics of parental care and negative impact of human disturbance; and fledgling period.

Temperature, discharge and development shape the larval diets of threatened green sturgeon in a highly managed section of the Sacramento River

AbstractFeeding at early fish life stages is a key determinant of survival to recruitment. To understand the environmental and developmental determinants of early life stage feeding in ESA‐threatened green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris), we performed a diet study in a highly managed section of California's Sacramento River, where temperature and discharge are controlled by dam releases. Utilising field collections from 2012 to 2016, we assessed the impacts of temperature, discharge and morphological development on the composition and number of prey items in larval green sturgeon diets. Results show that there are more empty stomachs at colder temperatures. Higher discharge conditions decreased prey taxon richness and counts, especially the abundance of cyclopoid copepods in diets. Fish smaller than 30 mm had teeth on the oral jaws and showed a strong reliance on zooplankton prey. The developmental loss of teeth in fish greater than 30 mm was associated with decreased zooplankton consumption and increased richness of benthic macroinvertebrates in diets. Our results show that river management through dam releases has the potential to impact the earliest life stage of green sturgeon by reducing the prevalence of favoured zooplankton prey in diets.

Representation of different exact numbers of prey by a spider-eating predator.

Our objective was to use expectancy-violation methods for determining whether Portia africana, a salticid spider that specializes in eating other spiders, is proficient at representing exact numbers of prey. In our experiments, we relied on this predator's known capacity to gain access to prey by following pre-planned detours. After Portia first viewed a scene consisting of a particular number of prey items, it could then take a detour during which the scene went out of view. Upon reaching a tower at the end of the detour, Portia could again view a scene, but now the number of prey items might be different. We found that, compared with control trials in which the number was the same as before, Portia's behaviour was significantly different in most instances when we made the following changes in number: 1 versus 2, 1 versus 3, 1 versus 4, 2 versus 3, 2 versus 4 or 2 versus 6. These effects were independent of whether the larger number was seen first or second. No significant effects were evident when the number of prey changed between 3 versus 4 or 3 versus 6. When we changed prey size and arrangement while keeping prey number constant, no significant effects were detected. Our findings suggest that Portia represents 1 and 2 as discrete number categories, but categorizes 3 or more as a single category that we call 'many'.

Food Habits of Invasive Bullfrogs and Native Thin-Toed Frogs Occurring in Sympatry in Southeastern Brazil

Abstract. Although the feeding ecology of sympatric anurans has been studied, less is known about the food habits of co-occurring invasive and native frog species, particularly in the Neotropics. We compared the food habits of invasive bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) and native thin-toed frogs (Leptodactylus cf. latrans) in a locality of Southeastern Brazil. Monthly field surveys and stomach content analyses were performed between September 2008–April 2009 and September–November 2009. Prey items were identified to the lowest taxonomic level and diet overlap was estimated. Juveniles of both species had similar body sizes, but adult thin-toed frogs were smaller than adult bullfrogs. Insects and spiders dominated the diets of juveniles of both species and of adult thin-toed frogs, whereas anurans and water bugs predominated in adult bullfrog diets. Thin-toed frogs consumed a larger number of prey items than bullfrogs, which in turn consumed more voluminous prey items. Aquatic and amphibious prey items we...

The Importance of Estuarine Production of Large Prey for the Growth of Juvenile Temperate Seabass (Lateolabrax japonicus)

The feeding ecology of juvenile temperate seabass (Lateolabrax japonicus) in relation to various prey environments was analyzed in the Yura River estuary from 2008 to 2012. Juveniles mainly fed on copepods and mysids, both in the Yura River estuary and in the adjacent coastal area. The dependency on the mysids increased as juveniles grew from 15 to 25 mm standard length (SL), and the main stomach contents were mysids for juveniles larger than 25 mm SL. The maximum size of food contents increased from 2 to 15 mm with the growth of juveniles from 15 to 25 mm SL. Most prey items smaller and larger than 2 mm were composed of copepods and mysids, respectively. The mean size of ingested food items increased with the size of the juveniles, while the mean number of prey items in each stomach decreased with growth after juveniles reached 22 mm SL. As a result, the stomach content index increased with the size of juveniles. These results indicate that the shift to larger-sized prey items (from copepods to mysids) is important for juveniles to obtain energy efficiently. Mysids were larger and more abundant in the estuaries than those in the coastal area. Therefore, the estuary provided better foraging conditions to juvenile temperate seabass than the coastal area.

Diet of the Blue-Bellied Poison FrogAndinobates minutus(Anura: Dendrobatidae) in Two Populations from the Colombian Pacific

Abstract We studied the effects of sex, body size, and season on the diet of two populations of the Blue-Bellied Poison Frog Andinobates minutus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) along the Pacific coast of Colombia. Andinobates minutus had a specialist diet, with preference for Acari (mites), Formicidae (ants), Collembola (springtails), and Holometabolous larvae. No differences in diet composition were noted between populations or between seasons. However, prey volume was higher in frogs from Bahia Malaga than those from Isla La Palma, and both populations experienced a decrease in the number of prey items in November, caused possibly by the low prey availability in that month. A differential effect of body size on diet was noted between populations. The total volume of prey, the volume and number of ants, and the volume of mites increased with snout–vent length (SVL), whereas the number of springtails decreased with SVL only in the Bahia Malaga population but not in the Isla La Palma population. This differential e...

Composition of chick meals from one of the main little auk (Alle alle) breeding colonies in Northwest Greenland

During the last decade, increasing information on little auk (Alle alle) biology, ecology and behaviour has been reported. However, only a few of these studies have focused on the breeding population in the Avanersuaq (Thule) district of Northwest Greenland, where 80 % of the global little auk population is estimated to breed. This study reports on the chick diet composition from one of the largest colonies, the Paakitsoq colony, located on the south-eastern margin of the North Water (NOW) Polynya. Results revealed the highest proportion of Calanus hyperboreus, a large lipid-rich copepod, in chick diet reported for any little auk colony. Results confirmed that the cold, highly productive waters of the NOW Polynya are favourable foraging grounds for the little auks during the breeding season. Species diversity within and between the chick meals was low, which probably reflects a high availability of a few preferred prey species. Individual chick meals were generally low in number of prey items and total energy content compared with other published results. This may be explained by a higher feeding frequency or by the samples being collected late in the breeding period (during late chick rearing), when chicks have a reduced growth rate and may require less energy than at earlier developmental stages.

The food supply of the pacific salmon of the genus Oncorhynchus in the northwestern pacific ocean. 1. The dynamics of the food spectra and feeding intensity

Based on the data of 28 surveys that were carried out by the Pacific Fisheries Research Center in the Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea, and Pacific waters during 2001-2010, we analyzed the interannual variability of indirect indices of the food supply of the Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus): the daily food ration, daily con� sumption rate, diel feeding chronology, diet overlap, trophic niche breadth, number of prey items, and the share of minor food. The years of the most pronounced changes in the diet composition and consumption rate of Pacific salmon were revealed. The variability of different trophic characteristics as indicators of the salmon food supply is discussed. Despite a significant increase in salmon abundance in the 2000s compared to previous years, no marked changes occurred in their feeding spectra and consumption rates.

Contrast in the importance of arrow squid as prey of male New Zealand sea lions and New Zealand fur seals at The Snares, subantarctic New Zealand

New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) are threatened by incidental bycatch in the trawl fishery for southern arrow squid (Nototodarus sloanii). An overlap between the fishery and foraging sea lions has previously been interpreted as one piece of evidence supporting resource competition for squid. However, there is currently no consensus about the importance of squid in the diet of New Zealand sea lions. Therefore, we investigated this importance independently of spatial and temporal differences in squid availability through a simultaneous study with sympatric New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri), a species known to target arrow squid. Diet sampling at The Snares (48°01′S 166°32′E), subantarctic New Zealand, in February 2012 coincided with peak annual catch in the nearby squid fishery. Diets were deduced by analyses of diagnostic prey remains from scats (faeces) and casts (regurgitations). The contribution of each prey species to the diet was quantified using the per cent index of relative importance (% IRI) that combined frequency of occurrence, mass and number of prey items. Arrow squid was a minor component in sea lion scats (2 % IRI), and none was found in their casts. In contrast, arrow squid was the major component in fur seal scats and casts (93 and 99 % IRI, respectively). This study found that New Zealand sea lions ate minimal squid at a time when squid was clearly available as evidenced by the diet of New Zealand fur seals; hence, there was no indication of resource competition between sea lions and the squid fishery.

Diet of the Long-eared Owl, Asio otus, in Central Anatolia (Aves: Strigidae)

In a one-year study on the diet of the Long-eared Owl, Asio otus, in the area of Karapınar in Central Anatolia, 5324 prey items were recovered from 3314 pellets collected at monthly intervals. At least 7 species of mammals belonging to Insectivora (Crocidura suaveolens) and Rodentia (Allactaga williamsi, Cricetulus migratorius, Meriones tristrami, Mescocricetus brandti, Microtus guentheri, M. sp., Mus macedonicus) were identified. Rodentia were dominant and contributed 93.8% of the number of prey items of the Long-eared Owl. Microtus guentheri accounted for 83.9% of the rodent remains. The diet pattern was more diverse in summer, when some 24% of the diet consisted of non-mammal prey items (birds, insects).