Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the northern Rocky Mountains provides the context for a natural experiment to investigate the response of consumers to resources with differing spatial and temporal dispersion regimes. Grey wolves (Canis lupus) and human hunters both provide resource subsidies to...
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2003
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ftcdlib:qt4w12t8gz 2023-05-15T15:50:47+02:00 Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA Wilmers, C C Stahler, D R Crabtree, R L Smith, D W Getz, Wayne M 996 - 1003 2003-11-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4w12t8gz english eng eScholarship, University of California qt4w12t8gz http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4w12t8gz public Wilmers, C C; Stahler, D R; Crabtree, R L; Smith, D W; & Getz, Wayne M. (2003). Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA. Ecology Letters, 6(11), 996 - 1003. UC Berkeley: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4w12t8gz carrion community diversity foraging behaviour resource pulse sage grouse scavengers subsidy wolves article 2003 ftcdlib 2016-04-02T18:29:13Z The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the northern Rocky Mountains provides the context for a natural experiment to investigate the response of consumers to resources with differing spatial and temporal dispersion regimes. Grey wolves (Canis lupus) and human hunters both provide resource subsidies to scavengers by provisioning them with the remains of their kills. Carrion from hunter kills is highly aggregated in time and space whereas carrion from wolf kills is more dispersed in both time and space. We estimated the total amount of carrion consumed by each scavenger species at both wolf and hunter kills over 4 years. Species with large feeding radii [bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and ravens (Corpus corax)], defined as the area over which a consumer can efficiently locate and integrate resources, dominated consumption at the highly aggregated hunter kills whereas competitively dominant species [coyotes (Canis latrans)] dominated at the more dispersed wolf kills. In addition, species diversity and the evenness of carrion consumption between scavengers was greater at wolf kills than at hunter kills while the total number of scavengers at hunter kills exceeded those at wolf kills. From a community perspective, the top-down effect of predation is likely to be stronger in the vicinity of highly aggregated resource pulses as species with large feeding radii switch to feeding on alternative prey once the resource pulse subsides. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus University of California: eScholarship |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
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ftcdlib |
language |
English |
topic |
carrion community diversity foraging behaviour resource pulse sage grouse scavengers subsidy wolves |
spellingShingle |
carrion community diversity foraging behaviour resource pulse sage grouse scavengers subsidy wolves Wilmers, C C Stahler, D R Crabtree, R L Smith, D W Getz, Wayne M Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA |
topic_facet |
carrion community diversity foraging behaviour resource pulse sage grouse scavengers subsidy wolves |
description |
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the northern Rocky Mountains provides the context for a natural experiment to investigate the response of consumers to resources with differing spatial and temporal dispersion regimes. Grey wolves (Canis lupus) and human hunters both provide resource subsidies to scavengers by provisioning them with the remains of their kills. Carrion from hunter kills is highly aggregated in time and space whereas carrion from wolf kills is more dispersed in both time and space. We estimated the total amount of carrion consumed by each scavenger species at both wolf and hunter kills over 4 years. Species with large feeding radii [bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and ravens (Corpus corax)], defined as the area over which a consumer can efficiently locate and integrate resources, dominated consumption at the highly aggregated hunter kills whereas competitively dominant species [coyotes (Canis latrans)] dominated at the more dispersed wolf kills. In addition, species diversity and the evenness of carrion consumption between scavengers was greater at wolf kills than at hunter kills while the total number of scavengers at hunter kills exceeded those at wolf kills. From a community perspective, the top-down effect of predation is likely to be stronger in the vicinity of highly aggregated resource pulses as species with large feeding radii switch to feeding on alternative prey once the resource pulse subsides. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wilmers, C C Stahler, D R Crabtree, R L Smith, D W Getz, Wayne M |
author_facet |
Wilmers, C C Stahler, D R Crabtree, R L Smith, D W Getz, Wayne M |
author_sort |
Wilmers, C C |
title |
Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA |
title_short |
Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA |
title_full |
Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA |
title_fullStr |
Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA |
title_full_unstemmed |
Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA |
title_sort |
resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in greater yellowstone, usa |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4w12t8gz |
op_coverage |
996 - 1003 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Wilmers, C C; Stahler, D R; Crabtree, R L; Smith, D W; & Getz, Wayne M. (2003). Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf- and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA. Ecology Letters, 6(11), 996 - 1003. UC Berkeley: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4w12t8gz |
op_relation |
qt4w12t8gz http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4w12t8gz |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1766385796124770304 |