The Disappearance of Small Mammal Carcasses in Human-Dominated Habitats: A Field Experiment in Northeastern Japan

Abstract

Even in human-dominated regions such as urban and agricultural areas, there are organisms involved in the decomposition of animal carcasses. Therefore, it is possible that these complementary decomposition functions occur in different habitats. Here, we clarified the disappearance patterns of small mammal carcasses in forest and human-dominated (urban and agricultural) habitats in northeastern Japan, based on field experiments. All small mammal carcasses in both summer and autumn were removed by different scavengers within 6 days; therefore, there was little difference in the disappearance rate of carcasses between habitats. The scavenger groups that contributed to carcass removal of remains in the summer survey differed between sites, suggesting that the disappearance process varies with landscape and canopy openness conditions. Although many carcasses were removed by vertebrates during the autumn survey, the vertebrate species involved differed among the survey sites. This study suggests that ecological functions related to the decomposition of small mammal carcasses in anthropogenically modified habitats may be maintained by the complementary activities of vertebrates and invertebrates.