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Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The aim of this paper is to biometrically analyse the cranial and somatic features of the Pannonian root vole in Slovakia and link body weight to selected cranial features. Somatic features indicate that specimens caught in Slovakia belong to the largest sub-species oeconomus. Overal...

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Autores principales: Baláž, Ivan, Tulis, Filip, Ševčík, Michal
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7926679/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33672155
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11020576
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author Baláž, Ivan
Tulis, Filip
Ševčík, Michal
author_facet Baláž, Ivan
Tulis, Filip
Ševčík, Michal
author_sort Baláž, Ivan
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: The aim of this paper is to biometrically analyse the cranial and somatic features of the Pannonian root vole in Slovakia and link body weight to selected cranial features. Somatic features indicate that specimens caught in Slovakia belong to the largest sub-species oeconomus. Overall, our results showed sexual dimorphism of all the somatic features observed in adult specimens, while the effect of seasonality was only seen in the average length of the body and tail. Thus, mean body and foot length appear stable in determining features despite the seasons. This study evaluated 25 skull and lower jaw measurements, representing the largest number of evaluated characteristics among Slovakia’s Pannonian root vole population. Linear regression of the weight and any of the three craniological features AMd, AMdm, and LCr is recommended in order to predict weight directly from them. This analysis is useful as a non-invasive method for analysing skeletal food remains that have been found in raptors and owls. Using the correlation between weight and body length makes it possible to analyse the Pannonian root vole population structure in greater detail, such as to classify specimens into age cohorts. ABSTRACT: The Pannonian root vole Alexandromys oeconomus ssp. mehelyi represents a rare glacial relict, whose occurrence is nowadays bound to several areas in Europe. Four somatic and 25 craniological features were analysed, based on 355 measured specimens. Sex is a significant factor affecting the average value of all four somatic features, where all of them achieve higher values in males than in females. While body length and tail length were also affected by seasons, body weight and the length of the hind foot were stable features present across the seasons. In cranial features, the largest variability in the adult population is characterised by neurocranium breadth (LaN), total length of the cranial base (LB), and skull (LCr); whereas the smallest variability of the cranial dimensions is reflected in the values of the greatest palatal breadth (PS) and postorbital breadth (Io). Calculating the weight from cranial remains may be used to estimate the size of the prey and to determine vole biomass consumed by predators, such as raptors, highlighting the utility of studying feeding ecology.
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spelling pubmed-79266792021-03-04 Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole Baláž, Ivan Tulis, Filip Ševčík, Michal Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: The aim of this paper is to biometrically analyse the cranial and somatic features of the Pannonian root vole in Slovakia and link body weight to selected cranial features. Somatic features indicate that specimens caught in Slovakia belong to the largest sub-species oeconomus. Overall, our results showed sexual dimorphism of all the somatic features observed in adult specimens, while the effect of seasonality was only seen in the average length of the body and tail. Thus, mean body and foot length appear stable in determining features despite the seasons. This study evaluated 25 skull and lower jaw measurements, representing the largest number of evaluated characteristics among Slovakia’s Pannonian root vole population. Linear regression of the weight and any of the three craniological features AMd, AMdm, and LCr is recommended in order to predict weight directly from them. This analysis is useful as a non-invasive method for analysing skeletal food remains that have been found in raptors and owls. Using the correlation between weight and body length makes it possible to analyse the Pannonian root vole population structure in greater detail, such as to classify specimens into age cohorts. ABSTRACT: The Pannonian root vole Alexandromys oeconomus ssp. mehelyi represents a rare glacial relict, whose occurrence is nowadays bound to several areas in Europe. Four somatic and 25 craniological features were analysed, based on 355 measured specimens. Sex is a significant factor affecting the average value of all four somatic features, where all of them achieve higher values in males than in females. While body length and tail length were also affected by seasons, body weight and the length of the hind foot were stable features present across the seasons. In cranial features, the largest variability in the adult population is characterised by neurocranium breadth (LaN), total length of the cranial base (LB), and skull (LCr); whereas the smallest variability of the cranial dimensions is reflected in the values of the greatest palatal breadth (PS) and postorbital breadth (Io). Calculating the weight from cranial remains may be used to estimate the size of the prey and to determine vole biomass consumed by predators, such as raptors, highlighting the utility of studying feeding ecology. MDPI 2021-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7926679/ /pubmed/33672155 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11020576 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Baláž, Ivan
Tulis, Filip
Ševčík, Michal
Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole
title Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole
title_full Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole
title_fullStr Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole
title_full_unstemmed Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole
title_short Biometric Analysis of Cranial and Somatic Features in the Pannonian Root Vole
title_sort biometric analysis of cranial and somatic features in the pannonian root vole
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7926679/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33672155
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11020576
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