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

Abstract

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 replacement across species pools of vertebrate scavengers separated a a continental scale maintains an ecosystem function in the journal Functional Ecology in 2015.; Format of the data: MS Excel (59KB); Please cite this record using the following DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4227/39/55f6533bef07d ; Related publication: Huijbers, C M, et al (2016) Functional replacement across species pools of vertebrate scavengers separated at a continental scale maintains an ecosystem function. Functional Ecology, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp.998-1005 ; Timeframe of data collection: March-April 2013;