Browsing by Subject "Carnivore carcasses"

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    Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects
    (Public Library of Science, 2019-08-29) Muñoz Lozano, Carlos; Martín Vega, Daniel; Sánchez Zapata, José Antonio; Morales Reyes, Zebensui; Moleón Paiz, Marcos; Martínez-Carrasco Pleite, Carlos; Gonzálvez Juan, Moisés; Sanidad Animal; Facultad de Veterinaria
    Carrion resources sustain a complex and diverse community of both vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers, either obligate or facultative. However, although carrion ecology has received increasing scientific attention in recent years, our understanding of carrion partitioning in natural conditions is severely limited as most studies are restricted either to the vertebrate or the insect scavenger communities. Moreover, carnivore carcasses have been traditionally neglected as study model. Here, we provide the first data on the partitioning between vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers of medium-sized carnivore carcasses, red fox (Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus)), in two mountainous Mediterranean areas of south-eastern Spain. Carcasses were visited by several mammalian and avian scavengers, but only one carcass was partially consumed by golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos (Linnaeus). These results provide additional support to the carnivore carrion-avoidance hypothesis, which suggests that mammalian carnivores avoid the consumption of carnivore carcasses to prevent disease transmission risk. In turn, the absence of vertebrate scavengers at carnivore carcasses enabled a diverse and well-structured successional community of insects to colonise the carcasses. The observed richness and abundance of the most frequent families was more influenced by the decomposition time than by the study area. Overall, our study encourages further research on carrion resource partitioning in natural conditions.
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    The extended role of carrion: insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
    (Elsevier, 2024-12-26) Redondo Gómez, Daniel; Gil Sánchez, José M.; Martínez-Carrasco Pleite, Carlos; Sebastián González, Esther; Rosell, Lidia; Jiménez Nájar, Pablo; Sánchez Zapata, José A.; Martín Vega, Daniel; Moleón, Marcos; Gonzálvez Juan, Moisés; Sanidad Animal; Facultades de la UMU::Facultad de Veterinaria
    Scavenging has been profusely studied in the last decades. However, carrion is more than a direct source of food for scavengers and decomposers, as it may provide many non-scavenging ecological functions. These include the provision of carrion insects to insectivores and hair to nest-building species. However, the patterns of use of these resources are greatly unknown. In this context, carnivore carcasses may represent an outstanding study model because they usually persist in the environment for longer than herbivore carcasses. Here, we used videotrapping to explore the consumption of carrion insects and hair taking at 99 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) carcasses in three areas of southeastern Spain. Carcasses were frequently used for consuming insects and taking hair (7.3 events in total on average per carcass). These non-scavenging behaviors were observed over eight weeks for most carcasses, peaking around the fifth week. Birds were the main users of carcasses, distantly followed by mammals; reptiles were only recorded feeding occasionally on carrion insects. These behaviors were more frequent during spring, when the demand for insects for offspring feeding and hair for nest building is maximized by many vertebrates. Moreover, the community of species exhibiting each of these behaviors was highly organized, as evidenced from their nested structure. We observed co-occurrence of insect consumption and hair taking in a quarter of carcasses, with co-occurrence being mostly due to chance and certain individuals and groups that used some carcasses for both purposes. Overall, non-scavenging uses of fox carcasses by vertebrates in our study area is more frequent than scavenging, which highlights the broad ecological relevance of carnivore carcasses and opens exciting future research avenues.