Scavenger assemblages and scavenging rates in north Queensland and Victoria, Australia

This data was collected to test whether ecological function, measured as scavenging rates, is affected by differences in species pools across a continental scale. We placed fish carcasses at the beach-dune interface of 12 beaches in north Queensland, and 13 beaches in Victoria, which were monitored by motion-triggered cameras to record scavengers and quantify the detection and removal of carrion. The data includes: 1. Scavenger assemblages, calculated as the aggregated species incidence per beach; 2. Beach characteristics, including natural metrics such as dune width, as well as metrics related to human interference such as distance to nearest buildings; 3. Scavenging rates: for each deployment whether a carcass was detected and removed; 4. Scavenging efficiency: for each deployment, time in minutes until a carcass was detected and removed; 5. Bird occurrence, calculated from Birdlife data, in 5 blocks of 50 km coastline in each region. The results of these data are published in "Functional replacement across species pools of vertebrate scavengers separated a a continental scale maintains an ecosystem function" in the journal Functional Ecology in 2015.

本数据集的采集旨在验证：以清除率（scavenging rates）衡量的生态系统功能，是否会受大陆尺度下物种类群（species pools）的差异影响。研究团队在昆士兰州北部的12处海滩与维多利亚州的13处海滩的滩涂-沙丘交界带放置了鱼尸，并借助运动触发式相机（motion-triggered cameras）进行监测，以记录清道夫生物的活动情况，并量化腐肉（carrion）的被发现与移除过程。本数据集包含以下内容：1. 清道夫群落组成：以各海滩的物种出现频次汇总得到；2. 海滩环境特征：涵盖沙丘宽度等自然指标，以及距最近建筑距离等人类干扰相关指标；3. 清除率：针对每一次鱼尸投放，记录其是否被发现并移除；4. 清除效率：针对每一次鱼尸投放，记录其被发现并移除所需的分钟数；5. 鸟类出现情况：基于鸟类联盟（Birdlife）的公开数据，计算各区域内5个50公里海岸线区块的鸟类出现频次。本数据集的相关研究成果已发表于2015年《功能生态学（Functional Ecology）》期刊，论文标题为《跨大陆尺度脊椎动物清道夫物种类群的功能替代维持生态系统功能》。