Date of Graduation
5-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Biological Sciences
Advisor/Mentor
Villasenor, Amelia
Committee Member/Reader
Naithani, Kusum
Committee Member/Second Reader
Forbes, Kristian
Committee Member/Third Reader
Dowdle, Andrew
Abstract
Mammals play a large role in the ecosystems where some, especially large-bodied mammals, act as ecosystem engineers. Mammal carcasses, particularly those of large body mass act as a temporary island of dense nutrients that support other organisms, including other mammal species, for an extended period. Research in this field currently focuses on the link between mammal carcass size and nutrient availably or on non-mammalian size and biodiversity, but little is available on the correlation between mammal carcass size and its influence on ecosystem biodiversity. Here we ask, does the available biomass (i.e., body size) of the carcass affect its role in ecosystem function? Using a camera-trap monitoring system in a forested, sparsely populated site in the Arkansas River Valley, we measured the biodiversity associated with three mammal carcasses of small and medium size. A medium mammal carcass (5.5 kilograms) attracted 9 mammal species, with some up to 27 kilograms, over a period of two weeks. A second medium-sized mammal carcass (2.2 kilograms) attracted 7 species over a period of two weeks. A third small-sized mammal (1.2 kilograms) attracted 5 species over a period of two weeks. All mammals exploited the carcass in some manner, either by scavenging the carcass or feeding off the insects that also consume the carcass. When compared to the controlled observations at the same region, when no carcasses were present, there is an increase in the diversity and abundance of species observed. This demonstrates that living mammals exploit mammal carcasses for resources and suggests that the larger a carcass is, the more it may serve as an important resource to the nutrient cycling of an ecosystem. These results can be used to understand the impacts of biodiversity loss, specifically the loss of large-bodied mammals.
Keywords
Biodiversity, carcasses, carcass body size, ecosystem
Citation
Warfield, T. (2022). Life after Death – Does Carcass Biodiversity scale with carcass body size?. Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/biscuht/46
Included in
Behavior and Ethology Commons, Biodiversity Commons, Biology Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Population Biology Commons