Artículo
Functional traits driving species role in the structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger networks
Autor/es | Sebastián González, E.
Morales Reyes, Z. Botella, F. Naves Alegre, L. Pérez García, J.M. Mateo Tomás, P. Cortés Avizanda, Ainara Sánchez Zapata, J.A. |
Departamento | Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología |
Fecha de publicación | 2021 |
Fecha de depósito | 2022-05-16 |
Publicado en |
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Resumen | 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 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. |
Agencias financiadoras | Generalitat Valenciana Ministerio de Educación y Cultura (MEC). España Govern de les Illes Balears National Science Center. Poland Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) Department of Energy. United States National Science Foundation (NSF). United States California Department of Fish & Wildlife. United States Junta de Andalucía |
Identificador del proyecto | SEJI/2018/024
APOSTD/2019/016 CIDEGENT/ 2020/030 ACIF/2019/056 CI-2017-32149 FJCI-2015-25632 IJC2018-036642-I YC-2019-027216-I RYC-2015-19231 RYC-2017-2273 GL2012-40013-C02-01/02 CGL2017-89905-R CGL2015- 66966-C2-1-R CGL2015-66966-C2-1-R2 RTI2018-099609-B-C21 RTI2018-099609-B-C22 PD/039/201 2013/08/M/ NZ9/00469 2016/22/Z/NZ8/00 P4-0059 DE- EM000439 #1255913 P0880013 RNM-1925 |
Cita | Sebastián González, E., Morales Reyes, Z., Botella, F., Naves Alegre, L., Pérez García, J.M., Mateo Tomás, P.,...,Sánchez Zapata, J.A. (2021). Functional traits driving species role in the structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger networks. Ecology, 102 (12), e03519. |
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