The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses

Scavenging has been profusely studied in the last decades. However, carrion is more than a direct source of food for scavengers and decomposers, as it may provide many non-scavenging ecological functions. These include the provision of carrion insects to insectivores and hair to nest-building specie...

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Autores: Redondo-Gómez, Daniel, Gil-Sánchez, José M., Gonzálvez, Moisés, Martínez-Carrasco, Carlos, Sebastián-González, Esther, Rosell, Lidia, Jiménez-Nájar, Pablo, Sánchez-Zapata, José A., Martín-Vega, Daniel, Moleón, Marcos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche
Repositorio:REDIUMH. Depósito Digital de la UMH
OAI Identifier:oai:dspace.umh.es:11000/37980
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11000/37980
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Carnivore carcasses
Larvae
Necrokleptotrichy
Nest building
Non-scavenging functions
Non-trophic functions
CDU::5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::50 - Generalidades sobre las ciencias puras::504 - Ciencias del medio ambiente
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spelling The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcassesRedondo-Gómez, DanielGil-Sánchez, José M.Gonzálvez, MoisésMartínez-Carrasco, CarlosSebastián-González, EstherRosell, LidiaJiménez-Nájar, PabloSánchez-Zapata, José A.Martín-Vega, DanielMoleón, MarcosCarnivore carcassesLarvaeNecrokleptotrichyNest buildingNon-scavenging functionsNon-trophic functionsCDU::5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::50 - Generalidades sobre las ciencias puras::504 - Ciencias del medio ambienteScavenging has been profusely studied in the last decades. However, carrion is more than a direct source of food for scavengers and decomposers, as it may provide many non-scavenging ecological functions. These include the provision of carrion insects to insectivores and hair to nest-building species. However, the patterns of use of these resources are greatly unknown. In this context, carnivore carcasses may represent an outstanding study model because they usually persist in the environment for longer than herbivore carcasses. Here, we used videotrapping to explore the consumption of carrion insects and hair taking at 99 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) carcasses in three areas of southeastern Spain. Carcasses were frequently used for consuming insects and taking hair (7.3 events in total on average per carcass). These non-scavenging behaviors were observed over eight weeks for most carcasses, peaking around the fifth week. Birds were the main users of carcasses, distantly followed by mammals; reptiles were only recorded feeding occasionally on carrion insects. These behaviors were more frequent during spring, when the demand for insects for offspring feeding and hair for nest building is maximized by many vertebrates. Moreover, the community of species exhibiting each of these behaviors was highly organized, as evidenced from their nested structure. We observed co-occurrence of insect consumption and hair taking in a quarter of carcasses, with co-occurrence being mostly due to chance and certain individuals and groups that used some carcasses for both purposes. Overall, non-scavenging uses of fox carcasses by vertebrates in our study area is more frequent than scavenging, which highlights the broad ecological relevance of carnivore carcasses and opens exciting future research avenues.ElsevierDepartamentos de la UMH::Biología Aplicada202520252025info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdf11application/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/11000/37980reponame:REDIUMH. Depósito Digital de la UMHinstname:Universidad Miguel Hernández de ElcheIngléshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2024.12.008info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/oai:dspace.umh.es:11000/379802026-05-27T13:36:21Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
title The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
spellingShingle The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
Redondo-Gómez, Daniel
Carnivore carcasses
Larvae
Necrokleptotrichy
Nest building
Non-scavenging functions
Non-trophic functions
CDU::5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::50 - Generalidades sobre las ciencias puras::504 - Ciencias del medio ambiente
title_short The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
title_full The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
title_fullStr The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
title_full_unstemmed The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
title_sort The extended role of carrion: Insect consumption and hair taking at fox carcasses
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Redondo-Gómez, Daniel
Gil-Sánchez, José M.
Gonzálvez, Moisés
Martínez-Carrasco, Carlos
Sebastián-González, Esther
Rosell, Lidia
Jiménez-Nájar, Pablo
Sánchez-Zapata, José A.
Martín-Vega, Daniel
Moleón, Marcos
author Redondo-Gómez, Daniel
author_facet Redondo-Gómez, Daniel
Gil-Sánchez, José M.
Gonzálvez, Moisés
Martínez-Carrasco, Carlos
Sebastián-González, Esther
Rosell, Lidia
Jiménez-Nájar, Pablo
Sánchez-Zapata, José A.
Martín-Vega, Daniel
Moleón, Marcos
author_role author
author2 Gil-Sánchez, José M.
Gonzálvez, Moisés
Martínez-Carrasco, Carlos
Sebastián-González, Esther
Rosell, Lidia
Jiménez-Nájar, Pablo
Sánchez-Zapata, José A.
Martín-Vega, Daniel
Moleón, Marcos
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Departamentos de la UMH::Biología Aplicada
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Carnivore carcasses
Larvae
Necrokleptotrichy
Nest building
Non-scavenging functions
Non-trophic functions
CDU::5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::50 - Generalidades sobre las ciencias puras::504 - Ciencias del medio ambiente
topic Carnivore carcasses
Larvae
Necrokleptotrichy
Nest building
Non-scavenging functions
Non-trophic functions
CDU::5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::50 - Generalidades sobre las ciencias puras::504 - Ciencias del medio ambiente
description Scavenging has been profusely studied in the last decades. However, carrion is more than a direct source of food for scavengers and decomposers, as it may provide many non-scavenging ecological functions. These include the provision of carrion insects to insectivores and hair to nest-building species. However, the patterns of use of these resources are greatly unknown. In this context, carnivore carcasses may represent an outstanding study model because they usually persist in the environment for longer than herbivore carcasses. Here, we used videotrapping to explore the consumption of carrion insects and hair taking at 99 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) carcasses in three areas of southeastern Spain. Carcasses were frequently used for consuming insects and taking hair (7.3 events in total on average per carcass). These non-scavenging behaviors were observed over eight weeks for most carcasses, peaking around the fifth week. Birds were the main users of carcasses, distantly followed by mammals; reptiles were only recorded feeding occasionally on carrion insects. These behaviors were more frequent during spring, when the demand for insects for offspring feeding and hair for nest building is maximized by many vertebrates. Moreover, the community of species exhibiting each of these behaviors was highly organized, as evidenced from their nested structure. We observed co-occurrence of insect consumption and hair taking in a quarter of carcasses, with co-occurrence being mostly due to chance and certain individuals and groups that used some carcasses for both purposes. Overall, non-scavenging uses of fox carcasses by vertebrates in our study area is more frequent than scavenging, which highlights the broad ecological relevance of carnivore carcasses and opens exciting future research avenues.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/11000/37980
url https://hdl.handle.net/11000/37980
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2024.12.008
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
11
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:REDIUMH. Depósito Digital de la UMH
instname:Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche
instname_str Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche
reponame_str REDIUMH. Depósito Digital de la UMH
collection REDIUMH. Depósito Digital de la UMH
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869406405811765248
score 15.812455

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