Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects.
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...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:84eb40ddd70b4b419fa6cd786e67322a 2023-05-15T18:49:21+02:00 Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. Carlos Muñoz-Lozano Daniel Martín-Vega Carlos Martínez-Carrasco José A Sánchez-Zapata Zebensui Morales-Reyes Moisés Gonzálvez Marcos Moleón 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 https://doaj.org/article/84eb40ddd70b4b419fa6cd786e67322a EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 https://doaj.org/article/84eb40ddd70b4b419fa6cd786e67322a PLoS ONE, Vol 14, Iss 8, p e0221890 (2019) Medicine R Science Q article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 2022-12-31T09:06:43Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 14 8 e0221890 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Carlos Muñoz-Lozano Daniel Martín-Vega Carlos Martínez-Carrasco José A Sánchez-Zapata Zebensui Morales-Reyes Moisés Gonzálvez Marcos Moleón Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carlos Muñoz-Lozano Daniel Martín-Vega Carlos Martínez-Carrasco José A Sánchez-Zapata Zebensui Morales-Reyes Moisés Gonzálvez Marcos Moleón |
author_facet |
Carlos Muñoz-Lozano Daniel Martín-Vega Carlos Martínez-Carrasco José A Sánchez-Zapata Zebensui Morales-Reyes Moisés Gonzálvez Marcos Moleón |
author_sort |
Carlos Muñoz-Lozano |
title |
Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. |
title_short |
Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. |
title_full |
Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. |
title_fullStr |
Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. |
title_sort |
avoidance of carnivore carcasses by vertebrate scavengers enables colonization by a diverse community of carrion insects. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 https://doaj.org/article/84eb40ddd70b4b419fa6cd786e67322a |
genre |
Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle |
genre_facet |
Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 14, Iss 8, p e0221890 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 https://doaj.org/article/84eb40ddd70b4b419fa6cd786e67322a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221890 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
e0221890 |
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1766242949130092544 |