Scavengers are animal species feeding with dead organic matter which was not killed by them. Carrion is a nutrient-rich resource of food, produced in all biomes. It is relatively reliably supplied in both time and space. Scavengers connect almost all trophic levels in an ecosystem. They do not have a direct impact on the population of consumed species, but they can impact them indirectly. The aim of the thesis is to investigate consumption of carrion by vertebrate scavengers in the Dinaric mountains. The main goals of the research were to determine diversity of vertebrate scavengers, relative frequency of occurrence, average searching times to find carcasses, impact of environmental factors on the detection of carcasses, impact of seasons and temperatures on use and detection of carcasses and to evaluate the intake of carrion per individual species. Using automatic video cameras, we monitored 25 carcasses of ungulates who have died in vehicle collisions in the region of Kočevje from 1st May 2014 to 1st May 2015. 9 species of vertebrate scavangers have been documented scavenging on ungulate carcasses, 6 of them were mammals, and other 3 were birds. Red fox (recorded at 96 % of carcasses) was the most common scavenger. An average scavenger needed 81 hours to find the carcasses. Brown bear is the most dominant scavenger in the Dinaric mountains. In 6 of 14 cases bears have consumed the carcass entirely on their first visit. By increasing the number of trees and the roughness of the terrain in the vicinity of 200 meters, the number of scavengers that discover the carcass decreases. With statistic analises the impact of season and temperature on the use and detection of carcasses was not confirmed, but the figures clearly show influence of temperature and season on diversity, searching times and use of the carcasse. For future research on this subject it is essential that the studies last several years and cover all periods of year. And the number of monitored carcasses should be greater.
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