SREL Reprint #3374

Ecosystem Services Provided by Avian Scavengers

Travis L. DeVault1, James C. Beasley2, Zachary H. Olson3, Marcos Moleón4, Martina Carrete5,
Antoni Margalida6, and José Antonio Sánchez-Zapata7

1National Wildlife Research Center, United States Department of Agriculture
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia
3University of New England
4Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana
5Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Universidad Pablo de Olavide
6Department of Animal Production, Universitat de Lleida
7Department of Applied Biology, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche

Abstract: Food webs developed under classical theoretical models often depict simplistic interactions among trophic levels linked by predation (Hairston et al. 1960). As a result, extensive research efforts have been devoted to studying predator-prey interactions, often ignoring the contribution of scavenging in food-web dynamics. However, recent advancements in food-web theory have recognized the widespread and critical role that scavenging plays in stabilizing food webs in ecosystems throughout the world, thus suggesting that previous models may have greatly underestimated the importance of scavenging in food web research (Wilson and Wolkovich 2011; Barton et al. 2013). Such disregard for the importance of scavenging likely stems from a number of factors, such as human aversion to decomposing matter, difficulties in identifying scavenged versus depredated materials, and the fact that most species utilize carrion opportunistically (DeVault et al. 2003). Nonetheless, recent population declines of a number of obligate scavengers (e.g., vultures) have drawn international attention to this important group of species, and have sparked a renaissance in research on scavenging (Koenig 2006; Şekercioğlu 2006; Ogada et al. 2012a; Moleón and Sánchez-Zapata 2015; Buechley and Şekercioğlu 2016a, 2016b; Ogada et al. 2016).

SREL Reprint #3374

DeVault, T. L., J. C. Beasley, Z. H. Olson, M. C. Moleón, A. Margalida, and J. A. Sánchez-Zapata. 2016. Ecosystem Services Provided by Avian Scavengers. pp.235-270 In: C. H. Şekercioğlu, D. G. Wenny, and C. J. Whelan (Eds.). Why Do Birds Matter? Birds' Ecological Functions and Ecosystem Services. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).