Data from: Prey availability and ambient temperature influence carrion persistence in the boreal forest

1. Scavenging by vertebrates can have important impacts on food web
stability and persistence, and can alter the distribution of nutrients
throughout the landscape. However, scavenging communities have been
understudied in most regions around the globe, and we lack understanding
of the biotic drivers of vertebrate scavenging dynamics. 2. In this paper,
we examined how changes in prey density and carrion biomass caused by
population cycles of a primary prey species, the snowshoe hare (Lepus
americanus), influence scavenging communities in the northern boreal
forest. We further examined the impact of habitat and temperature on
scavenging dynamics. 3. We monitored the persistence time, time until
first scavenger, and number of species scavenging experimentally-placed
hare carcasses over four consecutive years in the southwestern Yukon. We
simultaneously monitored hare density and carrion biomass to examine their
influence relative to temperature, habitat, and seasonal effects. For the
primary scavengers, we developed species-specific scavenging models to
determine variation on the effects of these factors across species, and
determine which species may be driving temporal patterns in the entire
community. 4. We found that the efficiency of the scavenging community was
affected by hare density, with carcass persistence decreasing when
snowshoe hare densities declined, mainly due to increased scavenging rates
by Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis). However, prey density did not influence
the number of species scavenging a given carcass, suggesting prey
abundance affects carrion recycling but not necessarily the number of
connections in the food web. In addition, scavenging rates increased in
warmer temperatures, and there were strong seasonal effects on the
richness of the vertebrate scavenging community. 5. Our results
demonstrate that vertebrate scavenging communities are sensitive to
changes in species’ demography and environmental change, and that future
assessments of food web dynamics should consider links established through
scavenging.