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The extended role of carrion: insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses

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dc.contributor.authorRedondo Gómez, Daniel
dc.contributor.authorGil Sánchez, José M.
dc.contributor.authorMartínez-Carrasco Pleite, Carlos
dc.contributor.authorSebastián González, Esther
dc.contributor.authorRosell, Lidia
dc.contributor.authorJiménez Nájar, Pablo
dc.contributor.authorSánchez Zapata, José A.
dc.contributor.authorMartín Vega, Daniel
dc.contributor.authorMoleón, Marcos
dc.contributor.authorGonzálvez Juan, Moisés
dc.contributor.departmentSanidad Animal
dc.contributor.otherFacultades de la UMU::Facultad de Veterinaria
dc.date.accessioned2025-12-29T09:34:40Z
dc.date.available2025-12-29T09:34:40Z
dc.date.copyright© 2025 The Authors
dc.date.issued2024-12-26
dc.description.abstractScavenging 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.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationBasic and Applied Ecology, 2025, Vol. 83, pp. 12-22
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2024.12.008
dc.identifier.eissn1618-0089
dc.identifier.issn1439-1791
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10201/183030
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.relationThis study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and EU ERDF funds through project CGL2017–89905-R, and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and EU ERDF funds through project PID2021–128952NB-I00. Daniel Redondo was funded by a predoctoral grant from the Junta de Andalucía (PREDOC_00262). Esther Sebastián and Marcos Moleón received the Ramón y Cajal grants RYC- 2019–027216-I & RYC-2015–19231, respectively, funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF Investing in your future. Moisés Gonzálvez was supported by a postdoctoral contract Margarita Salas (University of Murcia) from the Program of Requalification of the Spanish University System (Spanish Ministry of Universities) financed by the European Union-NextGenerationEU.
dc.relation.publisherversionhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179124000999
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.subjectNecrokleptotrichy
dc.subjectNest building
dc.subjectNon scavenging functions
dc.subjectNon trophic functions
dc.subjectCarnivore carcasses
dc.subject.odsObjetivo 15: Bosques, desertificación y diversidad biológica
dc.titleThe extended role of carrion: insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dspace.entity.typePublicationes
relation.isAuthorOfPublication74bbaf1b-2a73-4ec8-b1c6-429311688d3b
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationd0bfa3a6-c4d2-4225-b663-52987a201884
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery74bbaf1b-2a73-4ec8-b1c6-429311688d3b
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