1 ` Background • Scavenging is a widespread yet understudied foraging strategy • Vultures are ubiquitous scavengers that often carry heavy contaminant burdens due to high trophic position • Incidental poisoning is causing vultures declines worldwide • Fate of vulture carcasses is currently unknown, but they are a potential source of contaminant and poison redistribution within the vertebrate community via scavenging Objective 1 • Lead chamber with gamma detector measured radiocesium levels of carcasses, 28 of which were acquired from outside of the SRS and 3 of which came from on site Objective 2 • 31 black vulture carcasses monitored for vertebrate scavenging activity over 14 days with Reconyx HyperFire remote cameras 15 in open and 16 in forested areas Objective 1 • One vulture from the SRS had a slightly above background radiocesium level of 5.04 Bq/kg • The other thirty vultures had normal background levels Objective 2 Objective 2 • High vertebrate scavenging rates in both habitat types ~60% vs. 49.4% of rabbit carcasses in same landscape Scavenging communities identical in both habitat types but lower diversity than prior study with rabbit carcasses • Potential for contaminants in vulture carcasses to re-enter food web at middle and high trophic levels What Scavenges the Ultimate Scavenger? The Fate of Black Vulture Carcasses on the Savannah River Site Methods Study Area Introduction Lauren Laatsch 1, 2 , Joshua B. Smith 1 , James C. Beasley 1, 2 1. University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Lab 2. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources Results Conclusions and Discussion Objectives 1. Measure radiocesium levels in black vulture carcasses 2. Determine the proportion of vulture carcasses scavenged by vertebrates within open and forested habitats and the community composition of vertebrates utilizing vulture carrion Savannah River Site (SRS) • Department of Energy facility • 800 square kilometers near Aiken, SC • Built in early 1950’s to produce materials for nuclear weapons • Many studies conducted on site have analyzed the behavior and ecological impacts of radionuclides Figure 1. Map of the SRS with locations of experimentally placed vulture carcasses represented by red dots 13.33% 26.67% 20.00% 6.67% Open 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% Open Forest Percentage of Carcasses Scavenged Habitat Type 18.75% 37.50% 18.75% 6.25% Forest Figure 2. The proportion of carcasses scavenged in each habitat type. 60% of the carcasses placed in open areas and 62.5% of those placed in forested areas were scavenged by vertebrates. Figure 3. The three dominant scavengers were coyotes, opossums, and turkey vultures. These graphs show the percentage of scavenged carcasses that each of the dominant scavengers at least partially scavenged in both open and forested areas. Acknowledgements: This research was funded through the National Science Foundation’s Radioecology Research Experience for Undergraduates program hosted at the Savannah River Ecology Lab (UGA). This work was also supported through funding by the U.S. Department of Energy through Cooperative Agreement number DE-FC09- 07SR22506 with the University of Georgia Research Foundation. We would like to thank Noel Myers of USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services for providing black vulture carcasses. Special thanks to Bobby Kennamer and Kelsey Turner for their help. Objective 1 • All radiocesium levels were at background except for one vulture from the SRS that was slightly above background Legal limit for human consumption in Europe is 600 Bq/kg Future studies should measure levels in other black vultures and turkey vultures from the SRS Because vultures migrate, these substances could disperse widely from points of origin