Comparing scavenging in marine and terrestrial ecosystems: a case study with fish and gull carcasses in a small Mediterranean island
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Title: | Comparing scavenging in marine and terrestrial ecosystems: a case study with fish and gull carcasses in a small Mediterranean island |
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Authors: | Redondo-Gómez, Daniel | Quaggiotto, M.-Martina | Bailey, David M. | Eguía, Sergio | Morales-Reyes, Zebensui | López-Pastor, Beatriz de las N. | Martín-Vega, Daniel | Martínez-Carrasco, Carlos | Sebastián-González, Esther | Sánchez-Zapata, José A. | Moleón, Marcos |
Research Group/s: | Ecología y Conservación de Poblaciones y Comunidades Animales (ECPCA) |
Center, Department or Service: | Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Ecología |
Keywords: | Carcass type | Carrion | Community structure | Facultative scavengers | Scavenging efficiency | Shallow waters |
Knowledge Area: | Ecología |
Issue Date: | 20-Jan-2022 |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Citation: | Basic and Applied Ecology. 2022, 59: 92-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2022.01.006 |
Abstract: | Carrion consumption by scavengers is a key component of both terrestrial and aquatic food webs. However, there are few direct comparisons of the structure and functioning of scavenging communities in different ecosystems. Here, we monitored the consumption of 23 fish (seabream Sparus aurata) and 34 bird (yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis) carcasses on a small Mediterranean island (Isla Grosa, southeastern Spain) and surrounding waters in summer to compare the structure of the scavenger assemblages and their carrion consumption efficiencies in terrestrial and shallow water habitats. Scavenging was highly efficient both in marine and terrestrial environments, especially in the presence of a highly abundant vertebrate scavenger species, the yellow-legged gull. The vertebrate scavenger community was richer in the marine environment, whereas the invertebrate community was richer on land. The scavenger network was usually well-structured (i.e., nested), with the exception of the community associated with fish terrestrial carcasses, which were almost monopolized by yellow-legged gulls. In contrast, gulls left conspecific carcasses untouched, thus allowing longer persistence of gull carcasses on land and their exploitation by a diverse insect community. Our study shows important differences in the scavenging process associated with environment and carcass type. Promising avenues for further eco-evolutionary and applied research arise from the comparison of scavenging processes in terrestrial and marine ecosystems, from small islands to continents. |
Sponsor: | D.R.-G. was granted by the European Social Fund and the Chamber of Commerce of Granada, Z.M.-R. by a postdoctoral contract co-funded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund (APOSTD/2019/016), and E.S.-G. and M.M. research contracts Ramón y Cajal from the MINECO (RYC-2019-027216-I and RYC-2015-19231, respectively). This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and EU ERDF funds through the project CGL2017-89905-R. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUA. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10045/121558 |
ISSN: | 1439-1791 (Print) | 1618-0089 (Online) |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.baae.2022.01.006 |
Language: | eng |
Type: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
Rights: | © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH on behalf of Gesellschaft für Ökologie. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
Peer Review: | si |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2022.01.006 |
Appears in Collections: | INV - ECPCA - Artículos de Revistas |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Redondo-Gomez_etal_2022_BasicApplEcol.pdf | 2,18 MB | Adobe PDF | Open Preview | |
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