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Winter Diets of Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus) in Thrace, Turkey

Beskardes Vedat, Bacak Ergun, Keten Akif, Arslangundogdu Zeynel

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2020

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Vol. 68, nr 3

242--250

EN

Long-eared owls (Asio otus) are common avian predators in Turkey. Their diet consists primarily of small mammals, but they also feed on bats, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and fish. Limited research has been conducted on long-eared owl diets and pellet characteristics in Turkey, yet this knowledge would improve our understanding of their ecological role in the environment. We investigated prey items in pellets at winter sites of Asio otus in Edirne, Kirklareli, Tekirdag, and Istanbul. We collected 2143 pellets from winter sites and counted 3458 prey items. We identified 30 taxa including 16 mammals, 12 birds and 2 insects. Asio otus primarily consumed small mammal species (97.9%) which consisted mainly of rodents (89.6%, including Cricetidae 45.95%, Muridae 43.7%), Eulipotyphla (1.2%), and unidentified mammals (7.1%). A small proportion of birds (1.9%) and insects (0.2%) also were consumed. Asio otus inhabited small coniferous woodlands at edge of farmlands during winter, but their diet varied with location. Muridae were primarily consumed in Istanbul and Tekirdag, whereas Cricetidae were mostly consumed in Kırklareli and Edirne. Our study shows that Asio otus feeding habits shift depending on prey abundance and that they are not specialists for Microtus species only.

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Effects of Forest Roads on Large Mammal Behaviour

Turk Yilmaz, Cometen Selcuk, Keten Akif

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2020

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Vol. 68, nr 4

334--341

EN

Forest roads are the most important infrastructural facilities to exploit forests that are renewable natural resources. They are of great importance for all kinds of scientific and technical interventions to be made to the forest. Despite the benefits of forest roads, they have great potential to cause degradation and fragmentation of natural habitats. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of forest road technical features and intensity of use (traffic volume) on movements of mammals. From August 2017 to September 2017, a total of six forest roads and their surroundings were observed from fixed plots with wildlife camera traps. The study identified a total of twelve species of mammals. All together 589 individuals were counted from 461 wild animal images. Golden jackal, wild boar, and red fox are dominant species in the study area. The species composition of wild mammals was not strongly related to road characteristics. Drivers and wild animals use the same area but differ in time of use. It was also determined that wild animals adopted the road as a part of natural surroundings.

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Temporal Patterns of Wetland-Associated Bird Assemblages in Altered Wetlands in Turkey

Keten Akif, Sarcan Erdinc, Anderson James T.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2019

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Vol. 67, nr 4

316--330

EN

A loss of wetlands, one of the highly sensitive ecosystems, necessitates the monitoring and assessment of wildlife population trends for the continuity and sustainable management of species. The goal of our study was to evaluate temporal changes in wetland-associated bird composition by conducting monthly counts during December 2006 - November 2007 and March 2015 - February 2016 in Efteni Lake, Duzce, Turkey. This lake has been exposed to structural change including shoreline length, area and depth for the last 50 years. Wetland-associated bird richness decreased, and abundance increased during the decade, but this change was not significant except for two species with an increased population, ferruginous duck Aythya nyroca and great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus. Cluster analyses resulted in two groups: the breeding season from April to September, and the non-breeding season from October to March. The most numerous species were observed mostly during the non-breeding season. Some guilds, including diving carnivores, omnivores, shoreline omnivores and herbivores species were more prevalent during the non-breeding season. The insectivores had higher population densities during the breeding season. Thus, wetland-associated bird abundance during the non-breeding season was higher than during the breeding season, although species richness was the opposite. The planned restoration of habitats of Efteni Lake should have a positive impact on birds by creating more space available to them. Our result should help to better understand the impact of habitat changes on waterbird assemblages. Long-term monitoring of Efteni Lake will be useful for the wetland-associated avian community, and for other animal and plant communities.