2004/10/01 by Rebecca C. Terry, R. C. TERRY · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1669/0883-1351(2004)019<0497:optaps>2.0.co;2
openalex publication_date 2004/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Abstract Owls are important contributors to the Tertiary small-vertebrate fossil record. They concentrate small-vertebrate remains by producing pellets rich in skeletal material that provide a sample of the small-vertebrate fauna of an area. A common assumption is that different predators inflict unique fragmentation and skeletal element representation signatures, thus providing a method for identifying a field assemblage as pellet derived, and possibly identifying the predator. In addition to the digestive process of pellet formation, the taphonomic history of a pellet includes the post-regurgitation processes of weathering, disintegration, transport, and burial, all of which can introduce biases into an assemblage and confound paleoecological interpretation. Analysis of a modern accumulation of small-vertebrate remains from Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) pellets in a temperate forest environment on San Juan Island, Washington, reveals that fragmentation and skeletal-element representation change wi...