Data from: Scavenging: how carnivores and carrion structure communities
Cite this dataset
Wilson, Erin E.; Wolkovich, Elizabeth M. (2011). Data from: Scavenging: how carnivores and carrion structure communities [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8612
Abstract
Recent advances in the ecology of food webs underscore
the importance of detritus and indirect predator–prey
effects. However, most research considers detritus as an
invariable pool and predation as the only interaction
between carnivores and prey. Carrion consumption,
scavenging, is a type of detrital feeding that should have
widespread consequences for the structure and stability
of food webs. Providing access to high-quality
resources, facultative scavenging is a ubiquitous and
phylogenetically widespread strategy. In this review,
we argue that scavenging is underestimated by 16-fold
in food-web research, producing inflated predation rates
and underestimated indirect effects. Furthermore, more
energy is generally transferred per link via scavenging
than predation. Thus, future food-web research should
consider scavenging, especially in light of how major
global changes can affect scavengers.