Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community

Abstract Energy transfer is fundamental to ecosystem processes, affecting productivity and community structure. Large aggregations of colonially breeding birds are known as nutrient sources through deposition of feces, but also may deposit large quantities of energy in the form of dead nestlings. Th...

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Autores principales:	Wray Gabel, Peter Frederick, Jabi Zabala
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2019
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f2e2b031e0844133a3eb2b6d72909136
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f2e2b031e0844133a3eb2b6d729091362021-12-02T15:08:09ZNestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community10.1038/s41598-019-50986-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/f2e2b031e0844133a3eb2b6d729091362019-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50986-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Energy transfer is fundamental to ecosystem processes, affecting productivity and community structure. Large aggregations of colonially breeding birds are known as nutrient sources through deposition of feces, but also may deposit large quantities of energy in the form of dead nestlings. The magnitude and ecological relevance of this process to the scavenger community is poorly understood. We used trail cameras to monitor the fates of size-appropriate chicken carcasses in heron colonies in order to quantify the proportion of available fallen nestlings that were consumed by scavengers in the Everglades of Florida, USA. Overall, 85% of 160 carcasses were consumed, with Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura, 47%) and American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis, 29%) being the primary consumers. Probability of consumption by alligators or vultures was related to distance from nest to water, local nesting density, and colony type. Consumption probabilities of both scavengers in relation to habitat covariates suggested clear resource partitioning promoting coexistence. We estimate fallen nestlings throughout this ecosystem could support 16% of the alligator population and 147 adult Turkey Vultures during a nesting season. This work indicates that fallen nestlings can serve as an important source of energy for scavengers at colonial breeding aggregations, particularly in oligotrophic systems.Wray GabelPeter FrederickJabi ZabalaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Wray Gabel Peter Frederick Jabi Zabala Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
description	Abstract Energy transfer is fundamental to ecosystem processes, affecting productivity and community structure. Large aggregations of colonially breeding birds are known as nutrient sources through deposition of feces, but also may deposit large quantities of energy in the form of dead nestlings. The magnitude and ecological relevance of this process to the scavenger community is poorly understood. We used trail cameras to monitor the fates of size-appropriate chicken carcasses in heron colonies in order to quantify the proportion of available fallen nestlings that were consumed by scavengers in the Everglades of Florida, USA. Overall, 85% of 160 carcasses were consumed, with Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura, 47%) and American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis, 29%) being the primary consumers. Probability of consumption by alligators or vultures was related to distance from nest to water, local nesting density, and colony type. Consumption probabilities of both scavengers in relation to habitat covariates suggested clear resource partitioning promoting coexistence. We estimate fallen nestlings throughout this ecosystem could support 16% of the alligator population and 147 adult Turkey Vultures during a nesting season. This work indicates that fallen nestlings can serve as an important source of energy for scavengers at colonial breeding aggregations, particularly in oligotrophic systems.
format	article
author	Wray Gabel Peter Frederick Jabi Zabala
author_facet	Wray Gabel Peter Frederick Jabi Zabala
author_sort	Wray Gabel
title	Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
title_short	Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
title_full	Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
title_fullStr	Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
title_full_unstemmed	Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
title_sort	nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/f2e2b031e0844133a3eb2b6d72909136
work_keys_str_mv	AT wraygabel nestlingcarcassesfromcoloniallybreedingwadingbirdspatternsofaccessandenergeticrelevanceforavertebratescavengercommunity AT peterfrederick nestlingcarcassesfromcoloniallybreedingwadingbirdspatternsofaccessandenergeticrelevanceforavertebratescavengercommunity AT jabizabala nestlingcarcassesfromcoloniallybreedingwadingbirdspatternsofaccessandenergeticrelevanceforavertebratescavengercommunity
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Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community

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