Abstract
High infection risk is often associated with aggregations of animals around attractive resources. Here, we explore the behavior of potential hosts of non-trophically transmitted parasites at mesocarnivore carcass sites. We used videos recorded by camera traps at 56 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) carcasses and 10 carcasses of other wild carnivore species in three areas of southeastern Spain. Scavenging species, especially wild canids, mustelids and viverrids, showed more frequent rubbing behavior at carcass sites than non-scavenging and domestic species, suggesting that they could be exposed to a higher potential infection risk. The red fox was the species that most frequently contacted carcasses and marked and rubbed carcass sites. Foxes contacted heterospecific carcasses more frequently and earlier than conspecific ones and, when close contact occurred, it was more likely to be observed at heterospecific carcasses. This suggests that foxes avoid contact with the type of carcass and time period that have the greatest risk as a source of parasites. Overall, non-trophic behaviors of higher infection risk were mainly associated with visitor-carcass contact and visitor contact with feces and urine, rather than direct contact between visitors. Moreover, contact events between scavengers and carnivore carcasses were far more frequent than consumption events, which suggests that scavenger behavior is more constrained by the risk of acquiring meat-borne parasites than non-trophically transmitted parasites. This study contributes to filling key gaps in understanding the role of carrion in the landscape of disgust, which may be especially relevant in the current global context of emerging and re-emerging pathogens.Graphical abstract
Highlights
Pathogen distribution is spatially and temporally heterogeneous, so epidemiological landscapes frequently consist of hotspots for transmission risk within a matrix of area with reduced or even no exposure to parasites (Bousema et al 2012; Buck et al 2018; Weinstein et al 2018a)
We disentangled the behavior of animals visiting mesocarnivore carcass sites, which may have important implications for understanding the epidemiology of non-trophically transmitted parasites, and in ecoevolutionary terms
Contact events between scavengers and carcasses were far more frequent than consumption events (Moleón et al 2017; Muñoz-Lozano et al 2019; Gonzálvez 2020), suggesting that scavenger behavior is more constrained by the transmission risk of meat-borne parasites than the risk of acquiring non-trophically transmitted parasites
Summary
Pathogen distribution is spatially and temporally heterogeneous, so epidemiological landscapes frequently consist of hotspots for transmission risk within a matrix of area with reduced or even no exposure to parasites (Bousema et al 2012; Buck et al 2018; Weinstein et al 2018a). Carcasses are a paradigmatic example of a food resource that may be regarded as hotspots for both trophically and non-trophically transmitted pathogens (Turner et al 2014; Dmitric et al 2017; Moleón and Sánchez-Zapata 2021) This nutrient-rich resource attracts many scavengers in all ecosystems (DeVault et al 2003; Beasley et al 2012; Mateo-Tomás et al 2015; Sebastián-González et al 2019), leading to concentrations around carcasses of up to hundreds of individuals in the case of vultures (Donázar 1993). The dead animal can be a source of pathogens for non-scavenging species that approach the carcass without the intention of eating it, for other species that contact the carcass with the aim of ingesting the necrophagous invertebrates found on it, as well as for animal species that use the carcass for non-trophic purposes, such as marking behavior and taking material for nest construction (Moleón and Sánchez-Zapata 2016, 2021)
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