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Carnivore carcasses are avoided by carnivores
- Source :
- Moleón, M; Martínez-Carrasco, C; Muellerklein, OC; Getz, WM; Muñoz-Lozano, C; & Sánchez-Zapata, JA. (2017). Carnivore carcasses are avoided by carnivores. Journal of Animal Ecology, 86(5), 1179-1191. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12714. UC Berkeley: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/6m32748n, The Journal of animal ecology, vol 86, iss 5, Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, instname
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- eScholarship, University of California, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Ecologists have traditionally focused on herbivore carcasses as study models in scavenging research. However, some observations of scavengers avoiding feeding on carnivore carrion suggest that different types of carrion may lead to differential pressures. Untested assumptions about carrion produced at different trophic levels could therefore lead ecologists to overlook important evolutionary processes and their ecological consequences. Our general goal was to investigate the use of mammalian carnivore carrion by vertebrate scavengers. In particular, we aimed to test the hypothesis that carnivore carcasses are avoided by other carnivores, especially at the intraspecific level, most likely to reduce exposure to parasitism. We take a three-pronged approach to study this principle by: (i) providing data from field experiments, (ii) carrying out evolutionary simulations of carnivore scavenging strategies under risks of parasitic infection, and (iii) conducting a literature-review to test two predictions regarding parasite life-history strategies. First, our field experiments showed that the mean number of species observed feeding at carcasses and the percentage of consumed carrion biomass were substantially higher at herbivore carcasses than at carnivore carcasses. This occurred even though the number of scavenger species visiting carcasses and the time needed by scavengers to detect carcasses were similar between both types of carcasses. In addition, we did not observe cannibalism. Second, our evolutionary simulations demonstrated that a risk of parasite transmission leads to the evolution of scavengers with generally low cannibalistic tendencies, and that the emergence of cannibalism-avoidance behaviour depends strongly on assumptions about parasite-based mortality rates. Third, our literature review indicated that parasite species potentially able to follow a carnivore–carnivore indirect cycle, as well as those transmitted via meat consumption, are rare in our study system. Our findings support the existence of a novel coevolutionary relation between carnivores and their parasites, and suggest that carnivore and herbivore carcasses play very different roles in food webs and ecosystems.<br />Dirección General del Medio Natural (Murcia Region), Sierra Espuña Regional Park and Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park provided with logistics, permissions and financial support. M.M. acknowledges financial support through the Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence in R+D+I (SEV‐2012‐0262) and by a research contract Ramón y Cajal from the MINECO (RYC‐2015‐19231). This study was partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and EU ERDF funds through projects CGL2006‐10689/BOS, CGL2009‐12753‐C02‐02, CGL2012‐40013‐C02‐01/02 and CGL2015‐66966‐C2‐1‐2‐R. A. Kane and one anonymous reviewer improved the first version of the manuscript.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Food Chain
Parasitism
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Scavenger
Intraspecific competition
genetic algorithm
Cannibalism
Animals
2.2 Factors relating to the physical environment
Carrion
Parasites
Carnivore
Aetiology
carrion
scavenger
Agent‐based model
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Ecosystem
evolution of host-parasite interactions
Trophic level
Mammals
Herbivore
indirect interactions
Ecology
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Feeding Behavior
Biological Sciences
agent-based model
Carnivory
disease risk
cannibalism
food webs
evolution of host‐parasite interactions
Vertebrates
Animal Science and Zoology
Environmental Sciences
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Moleón, M; Martínez-Carrasco, C; Muellerklein, OC; Getz, WM; Muñoz-Lozano, C; & Sánchez-Zapata, JA. (2017). Carnivore carcasses are avoided by carnivores. Journal of Animal Ecology, 86(5), 1179-1191. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12714. UC Berkeley: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/6m32748n, The Journal of animal ecology, vol 86, iss 5, Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, instname
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a1630704ea9348e2b0e67513628f98b0
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12714.