ABSTRACT
In traditional food-web ecology, animal carcasses are relegated to the detrital subweb, where insects, fungi, and microbes are represented as the only decomposers (Swift et al. 1979). Further, these decomposers are typically assigned to the second trophic position, as equivalent to primary consumers. However, scavenging of animal carcasses by omnivores and carnivores is a widespread and important behavior in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and may be involved in up to 45% of food-web links (Wilson and Wolkovich 2011). Though it has yet to be regularly recognized as a distinct component of food webs (DeVault et al. 2003), carrion scavenging represents a unique and signicant form of energy transfer between trophic levels. It allows scavengers access to high-quality food with no additional prey death and without expenditure of energy to capture prey (Wilson and Wolkovich 2011). Additionally, because scavengers feed on multiple prey species, they increase the level of branching in food webs, which suggests they may provide an important stabilizing force in ecosystems (var der Zanden and Vadeboncoeur 2002).
