Insights on the effect of mega-carcass abundance on the population dynamics of a facultative scavenger predator and its prey

The interplay between facultative scavenging and predation has gained interest in the last decade. The prevalence of scavenging induced by the availability of large carcasses may modify predator density or behaviour, potentially affecting prey. In contrast to behavioural mechanisms through which scavenging affects predation, the demographic effects of facultative scavenging on predator and prey populations remain poorly studied. We used the semi-natural experimental opportunity in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, where contrasted management measures (culling and artificial supply of water) have led to fluctuations in elephant carrion abundance, to identify the consequences of facultative scavenging on the population dynamics of a large mammalian carnivore, the spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), and its prey. Using a 50-year dataset and Multivariate Autoregressive State Space models, we estimated hyaena and prey densities over four periods contrasted in elephant carrion availability due to management practices. Models that allow hyaena and their prey populations’ growth rate to vary depending on these four periods contributed significantly to explain variations in their density, which is consistent with an effect of management measures on the population dynamics of hyaena and its prey. Although our results support a predominant role of bottom-up mechanisms, whereby hyaena density is driven by herbivore density, itself driven by resources availability, some subtle patterns of densities could be interpreted as consequences of changes in predation pressure following changes in scavenging opportunities. We discuss why signals of prey and predator population dynamics decoupling are less likely to be observed in systems with a high diversity of prey, such as African savannas, and why inputs of mega-carcasses as pulsed resources hardly impacted top-down relationships in the long run. This study represents a first investigation of the long-term effects of carrion pulses, whose frequency may increase with climate changes, on the classical predator-prey coupling for large mammals.