Madalyn Page, Brandi Allred, and David Byers, Utah State University
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Relative abundances of small mammals often monitor environmental conditions due to these animals’ high sensitivity to climatic fluctuations. In this study, we document small mammal remains recovered from recently deposited owl pellets collected in Lake Channel, Idaho, located on the Snake River Plain. These pellets were dissected and cataloged according to diagnostic and non-diagnostic osteological characteristics. Following standard procedure, we used the crania and mandibles for MNI calculations, as well as species-level identification of small mammals. After identifying the small mammals down to species level, we compared our results to a habitat profile that suggests the microfaunal remains occupy both xeric and mesic habitats. These results remain consistent with the present day dune and riparian environments found in Lake Channel. Further analyses will compare this present day base-line climatic model to recently excavated small mammal assemblages documenting ancient Lake Channel climates.