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Carcass Type Affects Local Scavenger Guilds More than Habitat Connectivity

PloS one, 2016-02, Vol.11 (2), p.e0147798-e0147798 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

COPYRIGHT 2016 Public Library of Science ;COPYRIGHT 2016 Public Library of Science ;2016 Olson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;2016 Olson et al 2016 Olson et al ;ISSN: 1932-6203 ;EISSN: 1932-6203 ;DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147798 ;PMID: 26886299

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  • Title:
    Carcass Type Affects Local Scavenger Guilds More than Habitat Connectivity
  • Author: Olson, Zachary H ; Beasley, James C ; Rhodes, Jr, Olin E
  • Margalida, Antoni
  • Subjects: Animals ; Biology and Life Sciences ; Birds ; Cameras ; Carcasses ; Carrion ; Connectivity ; Decomposition ; Disease transmission ; Ecology and Environmental Sciences ; Ecosystems ; Environmental monitoring ; Feeding Behavior ; Food Chain ; Geography ; Guilds ; Habitat (Ecology) ; Habitats ; Indiana ; Invertebrates ; Laboratories ; Mammals ; Meat ; Natural resources ; Remote monitoring ; Research and Analysis Methods ; River ecology ; Scavengers ; Scavengers (Zoology) ; Scavenging ; Species ; Vertebrates ; Vertebrates - physiology
  • Is Part Of: PloS one, 2016-02, Vol.11 (2), p.e0147798-e0147798
  • Description: Scavengers and decomposers provide an important ecosystem service by removing carrion from the environment. Scavenging and decomposition are known to be temperature-dependent, but less is known about other factors that might affect carrion removal. We conducted an experiment in which we manipulated combinations of patch connectivity and carcass type, and measured responses by local scavenger guilds along with aspects of carcass depletion. We conducted twelve, 1-month trials in which five raccoon (Procyon lotor), Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), and domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus spp.) carcasses (180 trials total) were monitored using remote cameras in 21 forest patches in north-central Indiana, USA. Of 143 trials with complete data, we identified fifteen species of vertebrate scavengers divided evenly among mammalian (N = 8) and avian species (N = 7). Fourteen carcasses (9.8%) were completely consumed by invertebrates, vertebrates exhibited scavenging behavior at 125 carcasses (87.4%), and four carcasses (2.8%) remained unexploited. Among vertebrates, mammals scavenged 106 carcasses, birds scavenged 88 carcasses, and mammals and birds scavenged 69 carcasses. Contrary to our expectations, carcass type affected the assemblage of local scavenger guilds more than patch connectivity. However, neither carcass type nor connectivity explained variation in temporal measures of carcass removal. Interestingly, increasing richness of local vertebrate scavenger guilds contributed moderately to rates of carrion removal (≈6% per species increase in richness). We conclude that scavenger-specific differences in carrion utilization exist among carcass types and that reliable delivery of carrion removal as an ecosystem service may depend on robust vertebrate and invertebrate communities acting synergistically.
  • Publisher: United States: Public Library of Science
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 1932-6203
    EISSN: 1932-6203
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147798
    PMID: 26886299
  • Source: PubMed Central (Open access)
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