Data from: Special delivery: scavengers direct seed dispersal towards ungulate carcasses

Cadaver decomposition-islands around animal carcasses can facilitate establishment of various plant life. Facultative scavengers have great potential for endozoochory, and often aggregate around carcasses. Hence, they may disperse plant seeds that they ingest across the landscape towards cadaver decomposition-islands. Here, we demonstrate this novel mechanism along a gradient of wild tundra reindeer carcasses. First, we show that the spatial distribution of scavenger feces (birds and foxes) was concentrated around carcasses. Second, feces of the predominant scavengers (corvids) commonly contained viable seeds of crowberry, a keystone species of the alpine tundra with predominantly vegetative reproduction. We suggest that cadaver decomposition-islands function as endpoints for directed endozoochory by scavengers. Such a mechanism could be especially beneficial for species that rely on small scale disturbances in soil and vegetation, such as several Nordic berry-producing species with cryptic generative reproduction.

动物尸体周边的尸体分解岛（cadaver decomposition-islands）可促进多种植物的定植。兼性食腐动物具备极强的体内传播（endozoochory）种子潜力，且常聚集于尸体周围。因此，它们可能将误食的植物种子扩散至整个生境，并最终指向尸体分解岛。本研究依托野生苔原驯鹿尸体的梯度样带，验证了这一全新机制。首先，我们发现食腐动物（鸟类与狐类）的粪便空间分布显著聚集于尸体周边；其次，优势食腐类群鸦科鸟类（corvids）的粪便中普遍含有岩高兰（crowberry）的存活种子——岩高兰是高山苔原的关键物种（keystone species），其繁殖方式以营养繁殖为主。我们提出，尸体分解岛可作为食腐动物定向体内传种的终点。这类机制对依赖小型土壤与植被扰动的物种尤为有利，例如若干具备隐蔽有性繁殖特性的北欧浆果类物种。