Abstract
Carrion decomposition is critical for the cycling of nutrients within ecosystems.Carrion is a high-quality resource for a broad diversity of organisms and can be a central arena for competition and facilitation among microbial, invertebrate, and vertebrate consumers. Hence, understanding the factors that affect the trajectory of carrion decomposition enhances broader knowledge of how interkingdom and interspecies interactions shape both communities and ecosystems.Human activities are drastically modifying carrion availability, scavenger communities, and the environmental context in which decomposition takes place. This necessitates a new framework to capture complex decomposition processes.We propose an interdisciplinary framework to guide predictions of how global change will affect carrion decomposition, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem function in the Anthropocene.
Carrion decomposition is fundamental to nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems because it provides a high-quality resource to diverse organisms. A conceptual framework incorporating all phases of carrion decomposition with the full community of scavengers is needed to predict the effects of global change on core ecosystem processes. Because global change can differentially impact scavenger guilds and rates of carrion decomposition, our framework explicitly incorporates complex interactions among microbial, invertebrate, and vertebrate scavenger communities across three distinct phases of carcass decomposition. We hypothesize that carrion decomposition rates will be the most impacted when global change affects carcass discovery rates and the foraging behavior of competing scavenger guilds.
Carrion decomposition is fundamental to nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems because it provides a high-quality resource to diverse organisms. A conceptual framework incorporating all phases of carrion decomposition with the full community of scavengers is needed to predict the effects of global change on core ecosystem processes. Because global change can differentially impact scavenger guilds and rates of carrion decomposition, our framework explicitly incorporates complex interactions among microbial, invertebrate, and vertebrate scavenger communities across three distinct phases of carcass decomposition. We hypothesize that carrion decomposition rates will be the most impacted when global change affects carcass discovery rates and the foraging behavior of competing scavenger guilds.