Functional traits driving species role in the structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger networks

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2021Author
Sebastián-González, Esther
Morales-Reyes, Zebensui
Botella, Francisco
Naves-Alegre, Lara
Pérez García, Juan Manuel
Mateo-Tomás, Patricia
Olea, Pedro P.
Moleón, Marcos
Barbosa, Jomar Magalhaes
Hiraldo, Fernando
Arrondo, Eneko
Donázar, Jose Antonio
Cortés Avizanda, Ainara
Selva, Núria
Lambertucci, Sergio A.
Bhattacharjee, Aishwarya
Brewer, Alexis L.
Abernethy, Erin F.
Turner, Kelsey L.
Beasley, James C.
DeVault, Travis L.
Gerke, Hannah C.
Rhodes, Oline E.
Ordiz, Andrés
Wikenros, Camilla
Zimmermann, Barbara
Wabakken, Peter
Wilmers, Christopher C.
Smith, Justine A.
Kendall, Corinne J.
Ogada, Darcy
Frehner, Ethan
Allen, Maximilian L.
Wittmer, Heiko U.
Butler, James R. A.
du Toit, Johan T.
Oliva-Vidal, Pilar
Wilson, David
Jerina, Klemen
Krofel, Miha
Kostecke, Rich
Inger, Richard
Per, Esra
Ayhan, Yunus
Sancı, Mehmet
Yılmazer, Ünsal
Inagaki, Akino
Koike, Shinsuke
Samson, Arockianathan
Perrig, Paula L.
Spencer, Emma E.
Newsome, Thomas M.
Heurich, Marco
Anadón, José D.
Buechley, Evan R.
Gutiérrez-Cánovas, Cayetano
Elbroch, Marck
Sánchez-Zapata, José Antonio
Suggested citation
Sebastián-González, Esther;
Morales-Reyes, Zebensui;
Botella, Francisco;
Naves-Alegre, Lara;
Pérez García, Juan Manuel;
Mateo-Tomás, Patricia;
...
Sánchez-Zapata, José Antonio.
(2021)
.
Functional traits driving species role in the structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger networks.
Ecology, 2021, vol. 102, núm. 12, p. 1-12.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3519.
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Species assemblages often have a non-random nested organization, which in vertebrate scavenger (carrion-consuming) assemblages is thought to be driven by facilitation in competitive environments. However, not all scavenger species play the same role in maintaining assemblage structure, as some species are obligate scavengers (i.e., vultures) and others are facultative, scavenging opportunistically. We used a database with 177 vertebrate scavenger species from 53 assemblages in 22 countries across five continents to identify which functional traits of scavenger species are key to maintaining the scavenging network structure. We used network analyses to relate ten traits hypothesized to affect assemblage structure with the “role” of each species in the scavenging assemblage in which it appeared. We characterized the role of a species in terms of both the proportion of monitored carcasses on which that species scavenged, or scavenging breadth (i.e., the species “normalized degree”), and the role of that species in the nested structure of the assemblage (i.e., the species “paired nested degree”), therefore identifying possible facilitative interactions among species. We found that species with high olfactory acuity, social foragers, and obligate scavengers had the widest scavenging breadth. We also found that social foragers had a large paired nested degree in scavenger assemblages, probably because their presence is easier to detect by other species to signal carcass occurrence. Our study highlights differences in the functional roles of scavenger species and can be used to identify key species for targeted conservation to maintain the ecological function of scavenger assemblages.
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Ecology, 2021, vol. 102, núm. 12, p. 1-12European research projects
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