Pellets from Long-Eared Owls (Asio otus) were collected from four localities in the
city and in the vicinity of Belgrade. The element content in the pellets was
analyzed. The results indicate that owl pellets may be useful for monitoring
environmental conditions, specifically soil quality

Andrić, Velibor

Cvetićanin, Jelena M.

Demajo, Miroslav

Nešković, Olivera M.

Onjia, Antonije E.

Stoiljković, Milovan

Trpkov, Đorđe

Repository of the Vinča Nuclear Institute (VinaR)

       PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 2010  10th International Conference on Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Physical Chemistry  Proceedings      The Conference is dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the academician Pavle Savić birthday and 20th Anniversary of the Society of Physical Chemists of Serbia         21-24 September 2010 B E L G R A D E                            ISBN 978-86-82475-17-0 Title: Physical Chemistry 2010. (Proceedings) Editors: S. Anić and Ž. Čupić Published by: Society of Physical Chemists of Serbia, Studentski trg 12-16 P.O.Box 47, 11158 Beograd, 218, Srbija Publisher: Society of Physical Chemists of Serbia For Publisher: S. Anić, President of Society of Physical Chemists of Serbia Printed by: “Jovan” Printing and Publishing Company; 200 Copies; Number of pages 16 + 388, Format: B5; Printing finished in September 2010.  Text and Layout: “Jovan”  200 - Copy printing    II   The Society of Physical Chemists of Serbia  in co-operation with   Institute of Catalysis, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences  Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Siberian Branch of  the Russian Academy of Sciences  Faculty of Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Serbia  Institute of Chemistry Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Serbia  Vinča Institute, University of Belgrade, Serbia   Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, Serbia                         IV  International Organizing Committee  Chairman:             S. Anić (Serbia) Vice-chairman:     N. Stepanov (Russia)                                B. Adnađević (Serbia)  Members: M. Gabrovska (Bulgaria), N. Cvijetićanin (Serbia), T. Grozdić (Serbia),  D. Jovanović (Serbia), M. Lalić (BiH), D. Marković (Serbia), B. Milosavljević (USA), N. Miljević (Serbia), M. Mojović (Serbia), N. Ostrovski (Serbia), C. Pona (Italy), B. Simonović (Serbia), D. Stanisavljev (Serbia), A. G. Stepanov (Russia), V. Vasić (Serbia), N. Vukelić (Serbia), V. Vukojević (Sweden)   International Scientific Committee  Chairman:              Ž. Čupić (Serbia) Vice-chairmans:     V. N. Parmon (Russia)                                 M. Franko (Slovenia)  V. Vasić (Serbia)  Members: A. Antić-Jovanović (Serbia), G. Bačic (Serbia), R. Cervellati (Italy), R. Compton (United Kingdom), V. Gaspar (Hungary),  M. Jeremić (Serbia), A. L. Kawczyñski (Poland), Lj. Kolar-Anić (Serbia), S. Kuchanov (Russia), R. Leblanc (USA),  S. Mentus (Serbia), S. Milonjić (Serbia), Lj. Morozova-Roche (Sweden),  D. Moscone (Italy), J. Nedeljković (Serbia), Z. Noszticzius (Hungary), M. Perić (Serbia), V. Petruševski (Macedonia), M. Plavšić (Serbia), G. Smulevich (Italy),  G. Schmitz (Belgium), I. Schreiber (Czech), P. Ševčik (Slovakia), N. Stepanov (Russia), M. Trtica (Serbia), D. Veselinović (Serbia)  Local Executive Committee  Chairman:              B. Adnadjević Vice-chairmans:    S. Blagojević                                 A. Ivanović  Members: A. Abu Rabi-Stanković, P. Banković, N. Begović, S. N. Blagojević,  N. Cvjetičanin, M. Daković, A. Đerić, A. Ignjatović, Lj. Ignjatović, A. Jović,  J. Krstić, S. Kuprešak, D. Lončarević, J. Maksimović, V. Marković, M. Milenković, M. Milojević, Z. Mojović, B. Nedić, I. Pašti, N. Pejić, A. Popović-Bjelić, M. Petković, N. Potkonjak, D. Ranković, R. Ranković, M. Stević,  I. Stojković, B. Šljukić, M. Vujković    VPELLETS FROM LONG-EARED OWLS (Asio otus) AS INDICATORS OF SOIL QUALITY  M. Demajo, J. Cvetićanin, M. Stoiljković, Đ. Trpkov, V. Andrić,  A. Onjia and O. Nešković  Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, P.O. BOX 522, 11001 Belgrade, Serbia  Abstract Pellets from Long-Eared Owls (Asio otus) were collected from four localities in the city and in the vicinity of Belgrade. The element content in the pellets was analyzed. The results indicate that owl pellets may be useful for monitoring environmental conditions, specifically soil quality.  Introduction Certain species of birds, especially birds of prey, release through their beaks pellets containing undigested food remains, mostly bones and hair. Pellets from the Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus) were collected during January 2010, from under trees where the owls roost during winter. Rodents, voles (Microtidae) and field mice (Muridae) are the staple winter prey of these owls. Rodents have been previously analyzed as indicators of environmental quality [1] and [2]. The residues of rodenticides were studied in the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) pellets [3] under experimental conditions as well as organochlorine pollutants in eggs of the Little Owl (Athene noctua) [4]. Our report deals with the analysis of owl pellets containing remains of rodents with the aim of monitoring soil conditions in several localities.  Materials and Methods Pellets were collected from four locations (geographical coordinates determined by Google Earth satellite images). The locations were: Cemetery “Lešće” (N. 44° 48’ 28.44’’; E. 20° 32’ 46.63’’), Cemetery “ Bežanijska kosa “ (N. 44° 48’ 55.80’’ ; E. 20° 22’ 04.59’’), Cemetery “Novo groblje” (N. 44° 48’ 31.86’’ ; E. 20° 29’ 28.73’’) and the “Vinča” Institute (N. 44° 45’ 16.37’’ ; E. 20° 36’ 15.98’’). The first groups of samples were designated as "bones". These samples were obtained by separating only the bones from the pellets collected. The other groups of the samples were the pellets themselves as they were collected. Samples were processed and prepared for chemical quantitative analysis performed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (Spectroflame, Spectro Analytical Instrument (Germany), 2.5 kW, 27 MHz) and direct current argon arc plasma optical emission spectrometry. Mass spectrometry measurements were performed on MALDI TOF mass spectrometer Voyager de Pro (AB Applied Biosystem, UK). Alpha and beta radioactivity measurements were performed on a Protean MPC9400 low background gas proportional counter. The counter is calibrated with americium -241 for gross alpha determination and strontium-90 for gross beta determination. Low-background gamma-ray spectrometer with Canberra HPGe coaxial detector, multichannel analyzer and software was used. 549Results and Discussion All locations from which pellets were collected geologically originate from the Tortonian Miocene and consist mostly of sand, clay and marl [5]. The results of chemical quantitative analysis of bone samples and whole pellet samples are shown on Fig.1 and Fig.2, respectively. The results are presented by being normalized to sample mass. Ca P Mg Na K Fe Zn Sr Ba Mn Ti Cu Si B110100100010000100000  BONES LESCE BONES BEZANIJA BONES NOVO GROBLJE BONES VINCAElement concentration (μg/g)Element  Fig.1. Element concentrations in bone samples  Radioactivity measurements showed only the presence of 40K, while 137Cs, 90Sr, 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, 235U and 241Am were not detected. The same was confirmed by MALDI TOF. Ca P Mg Na K Fe Zn Sr Ba Mn Ti Cu Si B10100100010000100000  LESCE BEZANIJA NOVO GROBLJE VINCAElement concentration (μg/g)Element  Fig.2. Element concentrations in whole pellet samples  550Conclusion Our results confirm that it is possible to measure a series of elements in owl pellets. Environmental radioactivity may also be monitored by this method, requiring the improvement of the pellet sample preparation for future radioactivity measurements, especially when low radioactivity doses are in question. Unusual for mammalian tissue, the high content of Zn in the samples may be an indicator of the use of the rodenticide Zn-phosphide in the field.  Acknowledgement This work was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, under Project No. 142001.  References  [1] R. Miera et al. Health Physics, 1978, 34, 603-609. [2]. T. Winsor and W .Whicker, Health Physics, 1980, 39, 257-262. [3] C. Eadsforth et al. Pesticide Science, 1991, 32, 105-119. [4] V. Jaspers et al. Environ.Pollution, 2005, 136, 81-88. [5] K. Petković, Rědacteur, Gěologie de la Serbie, II-3, Beograd, 1977, 109. 551

Pellets from long-eared owls (asio otus) as indicators of soil quality

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Pellets from long-eared owls (asio otus) as indicators of soil quality

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