SREL Reprint #3569

Chapter 6. Ecological Functions of Vertebrate Scavenging

James C. Beasley1, Zachary H. Olson2, Nuria Selva3, and Travis L. DeVault4

1Savannah River Ecology Lab, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources,
University of Georgia, Aiken, SC, USA
2Department of Psychology, University of New England, Biddeford, ME, USA
3Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
4National Wildlife Research Center, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service,
Wildlife Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Sandusky, OH, USA

Introduction: The role of vertebrate scavenging in food web dynamics has historically been minimalized and portrayed as the activity of a select group of obligate scavengers (e.g., vultures), with a simplistic linkage between carrion and detritivores in food webs. Research in the last few decades, however, has revealed that the role of carrion in food web dynamics is severely underestimated, highly complex, and pervasive among ecosystems across the globe (DeVault et al. 2003; Selva and Fortuna 2007; Wilson and Wolkovich 2011). Such observations have led to a surge in research interest in scavenging ecology that continues to reveal new information on the ecological functions of scavenging and the complex role scavengers play in the cycling of nutrients within ecosystems. . .

SREL Reprint #3569

Beasley, J. C., Z. H. Olson, N. Selva, and T. L. DeVault. 2019. Chapter 6. Ecological Functions of Vertebrate Scavenging. pp. 125-157 In: Olea, P. P., P. Mateo-Tomás, and J. A. Sánchez-Zapata (Eds.). Carrion Ecology and Management. Springer International Publishing.

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