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Volume 51, No. 2

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Interactions between seabirds and sharks at a Fur Seal carcass


Authors

SIMON B.Z. GORTA1, BRITTANY BROCKETT2 & SHOSHANA RAPLEY2
1Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia (s.gorta@unsw.edu.au)
2Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia

Citation

GORTA, S.B.Z., BROCKETT, B. & RAPLEY, S. 2023. Interactions between seabirds and sharks at a Fur Seal carcass. Marine Ornithology 51: 237 - 241
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.51.2.1539

Received 08 June 2023, accepted 16 June 2023

Date Published: 2023/10/15
Date Online: 2023/10/12
Key words: energy transfer, food webs, scavenging, pelagic, Procellariiformes, White Shark

Abstract

The transfer of nutrients and energy from carcasses to scavengers is an important ecosystem function. In marine ecosystems, mammal carcasses can represent a spatiotemporally restricted but substantial pulse in resource availability, as they are typically only briefly available to scavengers on the surface. Little is understood about how these scavengers respond to such pulses, or how inter-scavenger interactions may influence their behaviour. We describe scavenging interactions of procellariiform seabirds at a fresh and floating New Zealand Fur Seal Arctocephalus forsteri carcass, recently killed by a White Shark Carcharodon carcharias, over the continental slope of southeastern Australia. We highlight potential exclusive and facilitative interactions between the shark and various seabirds, which may play an important role in energy-transfer dynamics in surface pelagic environments. We also provide apparently novel descriptions of scavenging at a marine mammal carcass for six of the seven seabird species that attended the carcass. Further study of sea-surface scavenger behaviour, interactions, and ecology will provide valuable insights into energy-transfer dynamics in pelagic ecosystems.

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