Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents
Animal carcasses provide an ephemeral pulse of nutrients for scavengers that use them. Carcass sites can increase species interactions and/or ephemeral, localized landscapes of fear for prey within the vicinity. Few studies have applied the landscape of fear to carcasses. Here, we use a mass die-off...
Published in: | Royal Society Open Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/fear-the-reaper(88016587-ba7d-460f-8c5c-ed323e5710d8).html https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191644 |
id |
ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/88016587-ba7d-460f-8c5c-ed323e5710d8 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/88016587-ba7d-460f-8c5c-ed323e5710d8 2023-05-15T18:04:23+02:00 Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents Frank, S. C. Blaalid, R. Mayer, M. Zedrosser, A. Steyaert, S. M. J. G. 2020 https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/fear-the-reaper(88016587-ba7d-460f-8c5c-ed323e5710d8).html https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191644 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Frank , S C , Blaalid , R , Mayer , M , Zedrosser , A & Steyaert , S M J G 2020 , ' Fear the reaper : ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents ' , Royal Society Open Science , vol. 7 , no. 6 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191644 mass mortality carcass decomposition fear ecology scavengers Corvus corvax Rangifer tarandus VOLE MICROTUS-OECONOMUS SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE PREDATION RISK SCAVENGER CARRION FOOD POPULATION CONSEQUENCES article 2020 ftuniaarhuspubl https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191644 2020-10-07T22:44:26Z Animal carcasses provide an ephemeral pulse of nutrients for scavengers that use them. Carcass sites can increase species interactions and/or ephemeral, localized landscapes of fear for prey within the vicinity. Few studies have applied the landscape of fear to carcasses. Here, we use a mass die-off of reindeer caused by lightning in Norway to test whether rodents avoided larger scavengers (e.g. corvids and fox). We used the presence and abundance of faeces as a proxy for carcass use over the course of 2 years and found that rodents showed the strongest avoidance towards changes in raven abundance (beta = -0.469, s.e. = 0.231, p-value = 0.0429), but not fox, presumably due to greater predation risk imposed by large droves of raven. Moreover, the emergence of rodent occurrence within the carcass area corresponded well with the disappearance of raven during the second year of the study. We suggest that carcasses have the potential to shape the landscape of fear for prey, but that the overall effects of carcasses on individual fitness and populations of species ultimately depend on the carcass regime, e.g. carcass size, count, and areal extent, frequency and the scavenger guild. We discuss conservation implications and how carcass provisioning and landscapes of fear could be potentially used to manage populations and ecosystems, but that there is a gap in understanding that must first be bridged. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer tarandus Aarhus University: Research Norway Royal Society Open Science 7 6 191644 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Aarhus University: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftuniaarhuspubl |
language |
English |
topic |
mass mortality carcass decomposition fear ecology scavengers Corvus corvax Rangifer tarandus VOLE MICROTUS-OECONOMUS SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE PREDATION RISK SCAVENGER CARRION FOOD POPULATION CONSEQUENCES |
spellingShingle |
mass mortality carcass decomposition fear ecology scavengers Corvus corvax Rangifer tarandus VOLE MICROTUS-OECONOMUS SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE PREDATION RISK SCAVENGER CARRION FOOD POPULATION CONSEQUENCES Frank, S. C. Blaalid, R. Mayer, M. Zedrosser, A. Steyaert, S. M. J. G. Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents |
topic_facet |
mass mortality carcass decomposition fear ecology scavengers Corvus corvax Rangifer tarandus VOLE MICROTUS-OECONOMUS SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE PREDATION RISK SCAVENGER CARRION FOOD POPULATION CONSEQUENCES |
description |
Animal carcasses provide an ephemeral pulse of nutrients for scavengers that use them. Carcass sites can increase species interactions and/or ephemeral, localized landscapes of fear for prey within the vicinity. Few studies have applied the landscape of fear to carcasses. Here, we use a mass die-off of reindeer caused by lightning in Norway to test whether rodents avoided larger scavengers (e.g. corvids and fox). We used the presence and abundance of faeces as a proxy for carcass use over the course of 2 years and found that rodents showed the strongest avoidance towards changes in raven abundance (beta = -0.469, s.e. = 0.231, p-value = 0.0429), but not fox, presumably due to greater predation risk imposed by large droves of raven. Moreover, the emergence of rodent occurrence within the carcass area corresponded well with the disappearance of raven during the second year of the study. We suggest that carcasses have the potential to shape the landscape of fear for prey, but that the overall effects of carcasses on individual fitness and populations of species ultimately depend on the carcass regime, e.g. carcass size, count, and areal extent, frequency and the scavenger guild. We discuss conservation implications and how carcass provisioning and landscapes of fear could be potentially used to manage populations and ecosystems, but that there is a gap in understanding that must first be bridged. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frank, S. C. Blaalid, R. Mayer, M. Zedrosser, A. Steyaert, S. M. J. G. |
author_facet |
Frank, S. C. Blaalid, R. Mayer, M. Zedrosser, A. Steyaert, S. M. J. G. |
author_sort |
Frank, S. C. |
title |
Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents |
title_short |
Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents |
title_full |
Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents |
title_fullStr |
Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents |
title_sort |
fear the reaper:ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/fear-the-reaper(88016587-ba7d-460f-8c5c-ed323e5710d8).html https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191644 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Frank , S C , Blaalid , R , Mayer , M , Zedrosser , A & Steyaert , S M J G 2020 , ' Fear the reaper : ungulate carcasses may generate an ephemeral landscape of fear for rodents ' , Royal Society Open Science , vol. 7 , no. 6 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191644 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191644 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
191644 |
_version_ |
1766175744782761984 |