Using multiple data sources to investigate foraging niche partitioning in sympatric obligate avian scavengers
Abstract
As carrion feeders competing for a limited and ephemeral resource, avian scavengers are ideal model organisms to study mechanisms of niche partitioning. Previous work has focused on observations of species’ interactions at carcasses, and although fruitful, the inclusion of behavior beyond that at carcasses, such as movement patterns, could yield a more comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of foraging niche partitioning. Our goal was to assess how differences in physiological, morphological, and social characteristics between sympatric black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) manifest interspecific variation in movement patterns, foraging habitats, and carcass use to reduce direct competition. Both species are obligate scavengers that co-occur across much of the New World. Turkey vultures are solitary foragers with enhanced olfactory capabilities and wings optimized for energy-efficient low-altitude soaring. Black vultures are aggressive, heavier bodied, and forage socially. We assessed interspecific variation in carcass exploitation using experimental carcass trials encompassing a range of habitats, carcass sizes, and seasons, and used GPS telemetry to compare how soaring conditions influenced daily space use and diurnal patterns of movement activity for each species. Turkey vultures occurred more often at small (i.e., rabbit) carcasses, and those obscured by forest cover than black vultures, and weremore »
- Authors:
-
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Ecology Lab. (SREL)
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Ecology Lab. (SREL); Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1614636
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EM0004391
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Ecosphere
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2150-8925
- Publisher:
- Ecological Society of America
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; black vulture; Cathartes aura; Coragyps atratus; movement ecology; niche differentiation; resource specialization; telemetry; turkey vulture.
Citation Formats
Byrne, Michael E., Holland, Amanda E., Turner, Kelsey L., Bryan, A. Lawrence, and Beasley, James C. Using multiple data sources to investigate foraging niche partitioning in sympatric obligate avian scavengers. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1002/ecs2.2548.
Byrne, Michael E., Holland, Amanda E., Turner, Kelsey L., Bryan, A. Lawrence, & Beasley, James C. Using multiple data sources to investigate foraging niche partitioning in sympatric obligate avian scavengers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2548
Byrne, Michael E., Holland, Amanda E., Turner, Kelsey L., Bryan, A. Lawrence, and Beasley, James C. Thu .
"Using multiple data sources to investigate foraging niche partitioning in sympatric obligate avian scavengers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2548. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1614636.
@article{osti_1614636,
title = {Using multiple data sources to investigate foraging niche partitioning in sympatric obligate avian scavengers},
author = {Byrne, Michael E. and Holland, Amanda E. and Turner, Kelsey L. and Bryan, A. Lawrence and Beasley, James C.},
abstractNote = {As carrion feeders competing for a limited and ephemeral resource, avian scavengers are ideal model organisms to study mechanisms of niche partitioning. Previous work has focused on observations of species’ interactions at carcasses, and although fruitful, the inclusion of behavior beyond that at carcasses, such as movement patterns, could yield a more comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of foraging niche partitioning. Our goal was to assess how differences in physiological, morphological, and social characteristics between sympatric black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) manifest interspecific variation in movement patterns, foraging habitats, and carcass use to reduce direct competition. Both species are obligate scavengers that co-occur across much of the New World. Turkey vultures are solitary foragers with enhanced olfactory capabilities and wings optimized for energy-efficient low-altitude soaring. Black vultures are aggressive, heavier bodied, and forage socially. We assessed interspecific variation in carcass exploitation using experimental carcass trials encompassing a range of habitats, carcass sizes, and seasons, and used GPS telemetry to compare how soaring conditions influenced daily space use and diurnal patterns of movement activity for each species. Turkey vultures occurred more often at small (i.e., rabbit) carcasses, and those obscured by forest cover than black vultures, and were the first vultures recorded at 94% of carcasses visited by both species. Both species increased movement rates and daily ranges when soaring conditions were favorable; however, turkey vultures had higher travel rates regardless of soaring conditions. Our results suggest the olfactory sense of turkey vultures allows them to locate smaller and visually obscured carcasses more efficiently than black vultures, facilitated by wing morphology that allows them to forage over large areas efficiently. Socially foraging black vultures appear specialized at locating larger carcasses in open habitats, which does not require as much foraging flight as turkey vultures. Our study illustrates how inclusion of movement ecology into niche partitioning studies provides a more complete understanding of the mechanisms of coexistence in avian scavenger guilds. This approach may provide important information to guide conservation efforts, such as supplemental feeding, of imperiled vulture species.},
doi = {10.1002/ecs2.2548},
journal = {Ecosphere},
number = 1,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Thu Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Home Ranges of Sympatric Black and Turkey Vultures in South Carolina
journal, January 2004
- DeVault, Travis L.; Reinhart, Bradley D.; Brisbin, I. Lehr
- The Condor, Vol. 106, Issue 3
Movement ecology of migration in turkey vultures
journal, December 2008
- Mandel, J. T.; Bildstein, K. L.; Bohrer, G.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 105, Issue 49
Effects of Satellite Transmitters on Albatrosses and Petrels
journal, January 2003
- Phillips, Richard A.; Xavier, Jose C.; Croxall, John P.
- The Auk, Vol. 120, Issue 4
Quantifying habitat use in satellite-tracked pelagic seabirds: application of kernel estimation to albatross locations
journal, September 2000
- Wood, A. G.; Naef-Daenzer, B.; Prince, P. A.
- Journal of Avian Biology, Vol. 31, Issue 3
Environmental conditions and animal behavior influence performance of solar-powered GPS-GSM transmitters
journal, August 2017
- Byrne, Michael E.; Holland, Amanda E.; Bryan, A. Lawrence
- The Condor, Vol. 119, Issue 3
Resource Overlap, Prey Dynamics, and The Strength of Competition
journal, December 1989
- Holbrook, Sally J.; Schmitt, Russell J.
- Ecology, Vol. 70, Issue 6
Continuous-Time Correlated Random walk Model for Animal Telemetry data
journal, May 2008
- Johnson, Devin S.; London, Joshua M.; Lea, Mary-Anne
- Ecology, Vol. 89, Issue 5
The Importance of the Mechanisms of Interspecific Competition
journal, May 1987
- Tilman, David
- The American Naturalist, Vol. 129, Issue 5
Food Habits of Black and Turkey Vultures in Pennsylvania and Maryland
journal, October 1987
- Coleman, John S.; Fraser, James D.
- The Journal of Wildlife Management, Vol. 51, Issue 4
Oceanographic habitats of two sympatric North Pacific albatrosses during the breeding season
journal, January 2002
- Hyrenbach, Kd; Fernández, P.; Anderson, Dj
- Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 233
From daily movements to population distributions: weather affects competitive ability in a guild of soaring birds
journal, November 2013
- Shepard, Emily L. C.; Lambertucci, Sergio A.
- Journal of The Royal Society Interface, Vol. 10, Issue 88
Winners and losers in human-made habitats: interspecific competition outcomes in two Neotropical vultures: Interspecific competition between Neotropical vultures
journal, March 2010
- Carrete, M.; Lambertucci, S. A.; Speziale, K.
- Animal Conservation, Vol. 13, Issue 4
Desert Rodent Community Structure: A Test of Four Mechanisms of Coexistence
journal, February 1989
- Brown, Joel S.
- Ecological Monographs, Vol. 59, Issue 1
Habitat Use and Home Ranges of Black and Turkey Vultures
journal, July 1989
- Coleman, John S.; Fraser, James D.
- The Journal of Wildlife Management, Vol. 53, Issue 3
Estimating updraft velocity components over large spatial scales: contrasting migration strategies of golden eagles and turkey vultures: Contrasting migration strategies of two raptors
journal, November 2011
- Bohrer, Gil; Brandes, David; Mandel, James T.
- Ecology Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 2
Brownian Bridge Movement Models to Characterize Birds' Home Ranges
journal, May 2013
- Fischer, Justin W.; Walter, W. David; Avery, Michael L.
- The Condor, Vol. 115, Issue 2
Olfactory Behavior of Foraging Procellariiforms
journal, April 1994
- Verheyden, Christophe; Jouventin, Pierre
- The Auk, Vol. 111, Issue 2
The environmental-data automated track annotation (Env-DATA) system: linking animal tracks with environmental data
journal, July 2013
- Dodge, Somayeh; Bohrer, Gil; Weinzierl, Rolf
- Movement Ecology, Vol. 1, Issue 1
Scavenging by vertebrates: behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives on an important energy transfer pathway in terrestrial ecosystems
journal, August 2003
- DeVault, Travis L.; Rhodes, Jr., Olin E.; Shivik, John A.
- Oikos, Vol. 102, Issue 2
Shadowed by scale: subtle behavioral niche partitioning in two sympatric, tropical breeding albatross species
journal, September 2015
- Conners, Melinda G.; Hazen, Elliott L.; Costa, Daniel P.
- Movement Ecology, Vol. 3, Issue 1
Diversity in Body Size and Feeding Morphology within Past and Present Vulture Assemblages
journal, June 1994
- Hertel, Fritz
- Ecology, Vol. 75, Issue 4
Statistical evaluation of parameters estimating autocorrelation and individual heterogeneity in longitudinal studies: Estimating autocorrelation and heterogeneity
journal, March 2012
- Hamel, Sandra; Yoccoz, Nigel G.; Gaillard, Jean-Michel
- Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 3, Issue 4
The Size of the Olfactory Bulb in 108 Species of Birds
journal, January 1968
- Cobb, Stanley
- The Auk, Vol. 85, Issue 1
Food Finding and the Influence of Information, Local Enhancement, and Communal Roosting on Foraging Success of North American Vultures
journal, April 1996
- Buckley, Neil J.
- The Auk, Vol. 113, Issue 2
No effect of satellite tagging on survival, recruitment, longevity, productivity and social dominance of a raptor, and the provisioning and condition of its offspring
journal, August 2015
- Sergio, Fabrizio; Tavecchia, Giacomo; Tanferna, Alessandro
- Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 52, Issue 6
Competition for food between Neotropical vultures in forest
journal, July 1988
- Houston, David C.
- Ibis, Vol. 130, Issue 3
Fine-scale assessment of home ranges and activity patterns for resident black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura)
journal, July 2017
- Holland, Amanda E.; Byrne, Michael E.; Bryan, A. Lawrence
- PLOS ONE, Vol. 12, Issue 7
Abiotic and biotic factors modulate carrion fate and vertebrate scavenging communities
journal, September 2017
- Turner, Kelsey L.; Abernethy, Erin F.; Conner, L. Mike
- Ecology, Vol. 98, Issue 9
Using dynamic Brownian bridge movement modelling to measure temporal patterns of habitat selection
journal, March 2014
- Byrne, Michael E.; Clint McCoy, J.; Hinton, Joseph W.
- Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol. 83, Issue 5
Scavenging Efficiency of Turkey Vultures in Tropical Forest
journal, August 1986
- Houston, David C.
- The Condor, Vol. 88, Issue 3
A dynamic Brownian bridge movement model to estimate utilization distributions for heterogeneous animal movement: The dynamic Brownian bridge movement model
journal, February 2012
- Kranstauber, Bart; Kays, Roland; LaPoint, Scott D.
- Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol. 81, Issue 4
Flight Behavior of Black and Turkey Vultures: Implications for Reducing Bird–Aircraft Collisions
journal, April 2005
- Devault, Travis L.; Reinhart, Bradley D.; Brisbin, I. Lehr
- Journal of Wildlife Management, Vol. 69, Issue 2
Recruitment to food in black vultures: evidence for following from communal roosts
journal, December 1987
- Rabenold, Patricia Parker
- Animal Behaviour, Vol. 35, Issue 6
Foraging segregation between two closely related shearwaters breeding in sympatry
journal, April 2009
- Navarro, Joan; Forero, Manuela G.; González-Solís, Jacob
- Biology Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 4
The early bird gets the carcass: Temporal segregation and its effects on foraging success in avian scavengers
journal, January 2014
- Kendall, Corinne J.
- The Auk, Vol. 131, Issue 1
Resource Partitioning in Ecological Communities
journal, July 1974
- Schoener, T. W.
- Science, Vol. 185, Issue 4145
Resource unpredictability promotes species diversity and coexistence in an avian scavenger guild: a field experiment
journal, December 2012
- Cortés-Avizanda, A.; Jovani, R.; Carrete, M.
- Ecology, Vol. 93, Issue 12
Kinship and association in communally roosting black vultures
journal, February 1995
- Parker, P. G.; Waite, T. A.; Decker, M. D.
- Animal Behaviour, Vol. 49, Issue 2
Ecological Segregation in Space, Time and Trophic Niche of Sympatric Planktivorous Petrels
journal, April 2013
- Navarro, Joan; Votier, Stephen C.; Aguzzi, Jacopo
- PLoS ONE, Vol. 8, Issue 4
Carcass Type Affects Local Scavenger Guilds More than Habitat Connectivity
journal, February 2016
- Olson, Zachary H.; Beasley, James C.; Rhodes, Olin E.
- PLOS ONE, Vol. 11, Issue 2
Olfactory perception and bulbar electrical activity in several avian species
journal, September 1972
- Wenzel, Bernice M.; Sieck, Michael H.
- Physiology & Behavior, Vol. 9, Issue 3
The avian scavenger crisis: Looming extinctions, trophic cascades, and loss of critical ecosystem functions
journal, June 2016
- Buechley, Evan R.; Şekercioğlu, Çağan H.
- Biological Conservation, Vol. 198
Evidence for olfactory search in wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans
journal, March 2008
- Nevitt, G. A.; Losekoot, M.; Weimerskirch, H.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 105, Issue 12
Anatomical evidence for scent guided foraging in the turkey vulture
journal, December 2017
- Grigg, Nathan P.; Krilow, Justin M.; Gutierrez-Ibanez, Cristian
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1
Experimental tests of the information-center hypothesis with black vultures ( Coragypsatratus ) and turkey vultures ( Cathartesaura )
journal, October 1997
- Buckley, Neil J.
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol. 41, Issue 4
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
journal, January 1999
- Buckley, Neil J.
- The Birds of North America Online
Competitive Interactions within and between Species in a Guild of Avian Scavengers
journal, April 1987
- Wallace, Michael P.; Temple, Stanley A.
- The Auk, Vol. 104, Issue 2
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
journal, January 1998
- Kirk, David A.; Mossman, Michael J.
- The Birds of North America Online
Patterns of Carbon dioxide Evolution from Decaying Carrion Decomposition of Small Mammal Carrion in Temperate Systems 1
journal, January 1978
- Putman, R. J.
- Oikos, Vol. 31, Issue 1
Environmental drivers of variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures ( Cathartes aura ) in North and South America
journal, May 2014
- Dodge, Somayeh; Bohrer, Gil; Bildstein, Keith
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 369, Issue 1643
Works referencing / citing this record:
Evidence of niche differentiation for two sympatric vulture species in the Southeastern United States
journal, October 2019
- Holland, Amanda E.; Byrne, Michael E.; Hepinstall-Cymerman, Jeffrey
- Movement Ecology, Vol. 7, Issue 1
Nestling carcasses from colonially breeding wading birds: patterns of access and energetic relevance for a vertebrate scavenger community
journal, October 2019
- Gabel, Wray; Frederick, Peter; Zabala, Jabi
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1