Data from: Scouts vs usurpers: alternative foraging strategies facilitate coexistence between Neotropical cathartid vultures

Christopher B, Thomas M, Basto A, Flatt E, Diaz GI, Chulla DR, Mullisaca FP, Quispe RV, Quispe CJQ, Forsyth A, Whitworth A. 2024. Data from: Scouts vs usurpers: alternative foraging strategies facilitate coexistence between Neotropical cathartid vultures. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.320

Abstract

Understanding how diverse assemblages of scavengers can coexist on shared ecological resources is a fundamental challenge in community ecology. However, current approaches typically focus on behaviour at carcass provisioning sites, missing how important differences in movement behaviour and foraging strategies can facilitate sympatric species coexistence. Such information is particularly important for vultures – obligate scavengers representing the most endangered avian foraging guild. Their loss from ecosystems can trigger trophic cascades, mesopredator release and disease outbreaks. We provide the first-ever analyses of GPS location data from wild King Vultures Sarcoramphus papa and Greater Yellow-headed Vultures Cathartes melambrotus, coupled with trait data (from both wild-living and museum specimens) and visitation data from camera traps deployed at provisioned carcasses, to characterize vulture flight behaviour and strategies in the Peruvian Amazon. We found marked species differences in several key movement characteristics, including: King Vultures having home-ranges five times larger, average flight heights four times greater and ground speeds 40% faster than those of Greater Yellow-headed Vultures. Despite these differences, both species flew similar distances each day (on average), probably due to King Vultures taking 50% fewer flights and spending 40% less time in the air per day. Consistent with these patterns, King Vulture body mass was more than double that of the Greater Yellow-headed Vulture, with a substantially larger hang wing index (a measure of long-distance flight efficiency). At carcasses, Greater Yellow-headed Vultures typically arrived first but were rapidly outnumbered by both King and Black Vultures Coragyps atratus. We find that the movement behaviour of obligate apex scavengers in the western Amazon is linked to their ability to coexist – Greater Yellow-headed Vultures, a smaller stature ‘scouting’ species adapted to fly low, forage early and arrive first at carcasses, are ultimately displaced by larger-bodied, wider ranging King Vultures at large ephemeral carrion resources. Expansion of future GPS tracking initiatives could facilitate the exploration of direct facultative interactions from animal movement data and give further insight into how diverse communities assemble and interact.

Keywords

Cathartes melambrotus,Sarcoramphus papa,animal tracking,Cathartes melambrotus,king vultures,greater yellow-headed vultures,Sarcoramphus papa,obligate scavengers,raptors

Taxa

Taxon

Cathartes melambrotus

Greater Yellow-headed Vulture

Taxon

Sarcoramphus papa

Hermit Warbler

Sensors

Sensor

GPS

DOIs of related Publications

https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13327

URI

https://datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.3080

BibTex

@misc{001/1_320,
  title = {Data from: Scouts vs usurpers: alternative foraging strategies facilitate coexistence between Neotropical cathartid vultures},
  author = {Christopher, B and Thomas, M and Basto, A and Flatt, E and Diaz, GI and Chulla, DR and Mullisaca, FP and Quispe, RV and Quispe, CJQ and Forsyth, A and Whitworth, A},
  year = {2024},
  URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.320},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.320},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.320
T1  - Data from: Scouts vs usurpers: alternative foraging strategies facilitate coexistence between Neotropical cathartid vultures
AU  - Christopher, Beirne
AU  - Thomas, Mark
AU  - Basto, Arianna
AU  - Flatt, Eleanor
AU  - Diaz, Giancarlo Inga
AU  - Chulla, Diego Rolim
AU  - Mullisaca, Flor Perez
AU  - Quispe, Rosio Vega
AU  - Quispe, Caleb Jonatan Quispe
AU  - Forsyth, Adrian
AU  - Whitworth, Andrew
Y1  - 2024/04/29
KW  - Cathartes melambrotus
KW  - animal movement
KW  - Sarcoramphus papa
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - Cathartes melambrotus
KW  - king vultures
KW  - greater yellow-headed vultures
KW  - Sarcoramphus papa
KW  - obligate scavengers
KW  - raptors
KW  - Cathartes melambrotus
KW  - Sarcoramphus papa
PB  - Movebank data repository
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.320
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.320
ER  -

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