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A Large Number of Southern Short-Tailed Shrew, Blarina carolinensis , Skulls Recovered From a Single Discarded Bottle
Abstract
The recovery of 25 southern short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis) skulls from a single discarded bottle in Louisiana appears to be the largest number of Blarina ever found in one bottle and reported in the literature. Conservation concerns about the impact of discarded bottles on small mammal faunas seem justified and warrant investigation.
Discarded beverage bottles have been recognized as a source of mortality for small mammals since the 1960s. We walked 4.34 km of moderately to heavily traveled highways and interstate interchanges near Newport News, VA, and counted discarded bottles and vertebrates trapped inside. We found 10,681 bottles, for an average of 2461 bottles/km. Greater numbers of bottles per km were found along heavily-traveled roadways than along moderately-traveled roads. Although only 4% of bottles trapped vertebrates, 795 vertebrates were found in those bottles with an average of 183.2/km of roadway. Most animals killed in bottles were Blarina brevicauda. Other casualties included Peromyscus leucopus, Microtus pinetorum, Mus musculus, Sorex longirostris, Cryptotis parva, lizards, and plethodontid salamanders. Although we found no rare or endangered species, similar numbers of bottles likely occur in areas with species of shrews, rodents, or salamanders whose populations are declining.
The relative frequency of shrews captured in pitfall traps and as remains in discarded bottles was compared in southern Illinois. A total of 72 discarded bottles contained the remains of 290 shrews of three species: southern short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis), least shrew (Cryptotis parva) and southeastern shrew (Sorex longirostris). Pitfall traps were operated for 19,430 trap nights and yielded 166 shrews of the same three species. Relative frequencies of these species from discarded bottles were significantly different (P < 0.001) from those determined by pitfall trapping. Discarded bottles underestimated least shrews and missed southeastern shrews almost entirely. Despite these biases, collection of discarded bottles can be a useful measure of species distribution.
Bottles were tested as traps for small mammals. Used in conjunction with three types of snap traps over 30,240 trap nights, bottles captured eight (2%) of the total 421 mammals taken. Bottles were inefficient in capturing small mammals compared to snap traps.
Discarded beverage bottles have been recognized as a source of mortality for small mammals since the 1960s. We walked 4.34 km of moderately to heavily traveled highways and interstate interchanges near Newport News, VA, and counted discarded bottles and vertebrates trapped inside. We found 10,681 bottles, for an average of 2461 bottles/km. Greater numbers of bottles per km were found along heavily-traveled roadways than along moderately-traveled roads. Although only 4% of bottles trapped vertebrates, 795 vertebrates were found in those bottles with an average of 183.2/km of roadway. Most animals killed in bottles were Blarina brevicauda. Other casualties included Peromyscus leucopus, Microtus pinetorum, Mus musculus, Sorex longirostris, Cryptotis parva, lizards, and plethodontid salamanders. Although we found no rare or endangered species, similar numbers of bottles likely occur in areas with species of shrews, rodents, or salamanders whose populations are declining.
Abstract 189 bottles and 6 cans, containing the remains of 904 small mammals were collected in alpine and pre-alpine areas of Piedmont, Aosta Valley and Lombardy. The following taxa were recorded: Sorex alpinus, Sorex araneus, Sorex minutus, Neomys fodiens, Crocidura leucodon, Crocidura suaveolens, Eliomys quercinus, Clethrionomys glareolus, Microtus arvalis, Microtus multiplex/subterraneus, Microtus savii, Chionomys nivalis, Apodemus spp., Mus domesticus, Soricidae was the best represented family in the sample (73.5% of the specimens found), with a different occurrence of Crocidurinae and Soricinae in xerothermic and non-xerothermic areas.
Fourteen species of small mammals were found entrapped in discarded bottles in surveys along Virginia roadsides. Shrews were the most abundant small mammals found; two species of Blarina represented about 85 % of all soricids. The method was particularly helpful in delineating the ranges of Blarina brevicauda and B. carolinensis in Virginia. In small mammal distribution studies surveys of mammals entrapped in bottles can augment conventional collecting methods and often greatly reduce the extent of trapping effort.
In view of an extensive road system, abundant and rapidly growing vehicular traffic, and a scattered literature indicating that some ecological effects of roads extend outward for >100 m, it seems likely that the cumulative ecological effect of the road system in the United States is considerable. Two recent studies in The Netherlands and Massachusetts ( U.S.A.) evaluated several ecological effects of roads, including traffic noise effects, and provide quantitative evidence for a definable “road-effect zone.” Based on the approximate width of this asymmetric convoluted zone, I estimate that about one-fifth of the U.S. land area is directly affected ecologically by the system of public roads. I identify a series of assumptions and variables suggesting that over time this preliminary estimate is more likely to rise than drop. Several transportation planning and policy recommendations, ranging from perforating the road barrier for wildlife crossings to closing certain roads, offer promise for reducing this enormous ecological effect.
It has been found that discarded bottles often contain the remains of small mammals. The phenomenon is of widespread occurrence in the British Isles and involves at least ten species.
Mammals appear to be trapped in bottles because of their differential abilities to enter and exit through the neck. Entry is probably in response to feeding or exploratory drives, exit is prevented by a number of different factors. While shrews tend to occur in all bottle sizes, rodents are found more often in those bottles with the wider necks.
The practice of examining discarded bottles is indicated as an important tool in the collection of mammal distribution records.
Discarded bottles were inspected for skeletal remains at 220 roadside sites along the southeastern Blue Ridge escarpment of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia as a technique to examine the regional distributions of shrews. Vertebrate remains were found at approximately 63% of our study sites and in 4.5% of the open bottles we examined. Bottles collected a total of 553 specimens of small mammals representing 5 species of shrews and 6 species of rodents. The Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda) and the Smoky Shrew (Sorex fumeus) were abundant and distributed throughout the region, although Smoky Shrews were more strongly associated with mesic environments and higher altitudes ( = 940.1 m ± 25.4 m). The Masked Shrew (S. cinereus) and the Southeastern Shrew (S. longirostris) exhibited contiguous allopatry, with Masked Shrews occurring exclusively in mesic forest habitats at high elevations ( = 1126.7 ± 27.4 m), and Southeastern Shrews occurring only in xeric habitats at lower elevations ( = 503.7 ± 64.9 m). Our study demonstrates the utility of discarded bottles as a quick and effective alternative method for surveying shrews, without the added mortality that occurs from pitfall- or snap-trapping.
There is a paucity of data on mammal species richness in the Piedmont physiographic province of the Carolinas, especially in north-central South Carolina. Over the last 12 years, I conducted field surveys, searched the literature, and queried numerous museums and agencies to locate records of mammals from the Piedmont province of South Carolina. I recorded 43 species of mammals, four of which are listed as species of state concern, from six counties in north-central South Carolina. Baseline information on mammal species occurrence is critical to future studies and issues of management and conservation.
Small mammals found in discarded bottles in alpine and pre-alpine areas of NW-Italy
- P Debernardi
- E Patrtarca
- A Perone
- M Cantini
- B Chiarenzi
- DEBERNARDI, P.,
DEBERNARDI, P., E. PATRTARCA, A. PERONE, M. CANTINI,
AND B. CHIARENZI. 1997. Small mammals found in discarded
bottles in alpine and pre-alpine areas of NW-Italy. Hystrix
9:51-55.