Messy eaters and scavenger hunts: the community ecology of scavenging interactions in a rockpool ecosystem
- 1School of Biology, University of St Andrews 1 , St Andrews, UK
- 2L'Institut Agro Rennes-Angers 2 , Rennes, France
Abstract
Carcasses are valuable resources to those scavengers able to access them. While some generalist foragers are poorly equipped to process carcasses themselves, they may exploit the actions of others by feeding on tissues that the latter expose or detach. Carcasses also attract opportunistic predators, which can target other smaller scavengers, as well as feeding on the carcass itself. We studied these interactions using field-based experiments in a rockpool ecosystem. First, we showed that greater numbers of small fishes and mysids were attracted to areas where scavengers, primarily hermit crabs (Pagurus bernhardus), were feeding on mussel carcass baits compared to treatments where inaccessible carcasses or no-carcass controls were presented. We termed these secondary scavengers, since we did not see them feeding on the carcass directly. Second, we saw predators attack scavengers more frequently in trials where carcasses were present than where they were absent. They also approached stimulus chambers containing aggregations of hermit crabs more often than empty controls. Nonetheless, predator interactions were, overall, infrequent. For these smaller scavengers, carcass-foraging may be a trade-off between access to a sizeable food resource and competition, and sometimes heightened predation risk, from larger scavengers.
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BibTeX
@article{weiss2026messy,
title = {{Messy eaters and scavenger hunts: the community ecology of scavenging interactions in a rockpool ecosystem}},
author = {Lola I. L. Weiss and Charlotte S. C. Davis and Maddie Doran and Rebecca Gourlay and Leonie Kay and Allison K. Puckett and Melissa E. Ramsay and Margot Rochelet and Michael M. Webster},
journal = {Royal Society Open Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1098/rsos.261342},
url = {https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/10/261342/483896/Messy-eaters-and-scavenger-hunts-the-community},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Messy eaters and scavenger hunts: the community ecology of scavenging interactions in a rockpool ecosystem
AU - Lola I. L. Weiss
AU - Charlotte S. C. Davis
AU - Maddie Doran
AU - Rebecca Gourlay
AU - Leonie Kay
AU - Allison K. Puckett
AU - Melissa E. Ramsay
AU - Margot Rochelet
AU - Michael M. Webster
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Royal Society Open Science
DO - 10.1098/rsos.261342
UR - https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/10/261342/483896/Messy-eaters-and-scavenger-hunts-the-community
AB - Carcasses are valuable resources to those scavengers able to access them. While some generalist foragers are poorly equipped to process carcasses themselves, they may exploit the actions of others by feeding on tissues that the latter expose or detach. Carcasses also attract opportunistic predators, which can target other smaller scavengers, as well as feeding on the carcass itself. We studied these interactions using field-based experiments in a rockpool ecosystem. First, we showed that greater numbers of small fishes and mysids were attracted to areas where scavengers, primarily hermit crabs (Pagurus bernhardus), were feeding on mussel carcass baits compared to treatments where inaccessible carcasses or no-carcass controls were presented. We termed these secondary scavengers, since we did not see them feeding on the carcass directly. Second, we saw predators attack scavengers more frequently in trials where carcasses were present than where they were absent. They also approached stimulus chambers containing aggregations of hermit crabs more often than empty controls. Nonetheless, predator interactions were, overall, infrequent. For these smaller scavengers, carcass-foraging may be a trade-off between access to a sizeable food resource and competition, and sometimes heightened predation risk, from larger scavengers.
SN - 2054-5703
ER -