Abiotic and biotic factors modulate carcass consumption by scavengers, affecting ecosystem functioning. Habitat structure is arguably a key factor influencing scavenging, but its role remains poorly understood, particularly at small spatial scales. We examine how habitat characteristics at landscape (50–1000 m radius) and local (≤10 m radius) scales around carrion affect the structure of vertebrate scavenging communities. We used remote cameras to monitor the consumption of 151 ungulate carcasses in one temperate (55 carcasses) and two Mediterranean (56 and 40 carcasses) study areas in Spain in 2011–2013. Our results showed complex habitat–scavenger relationships that mainly relied upon the spatial scale, the type of carcass and the study area. While the response of scavenger richness to habitat characteristics was consistent across study areas, the effects of diversity varied regionally at the landscape scale. Large and medium-sized carcasses in open landscapes had lower scavenger richness, likely because open habitats promote vulture dominance. At the local scale, shrub cover lowered scavenger richness and diversity, hindering carrion location by avian scavengers. Our results suggest that the structure of vertebrate scavenging assemblages at carcasses is driven by carcass and habitat characteristics operating as ecological filters at different scales (i.e. local, landscape, and biogeographical), which affect a species’ ability to locate, access and dominate carrion. Understanding the factors underlying the complex habitat–community relationships shown here has implications for managing key ecosystem functions and services. We propose a multi-scale conceptual framework to disentangle scavenger–carcass relationships.

PMT was funded by Portuguese FCT (SFRH/BPD/112437/2015) and Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and Fondo Social Europeo. We thank J. Viñuela, J. Vicente, J.A. Barasona, J.S. Fuster, A. Sánchez, J. Rodríguez, people from IREC, environmental authorities from Principado de Asturias, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Junta de Andalucía and Spanish Ministry of Environment, and funding from REMEDINAL-3 (S-2013/MAE2719) project.

Peer reviewed