The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 29 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 7 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf‐ and hunter‐killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA
Open accessAbstract
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the northern Rocky Mountains provides the context for a natural experiment to investigate the response of consumers to resources with differing spatial and temporal dispersion regimes. Grey wolves (Canis lupus) and human hunters both provide resource subsidies to scavengers by provisioning them with the remains of their kills. Carrion from hunter kills is highly aggregated in time and space whereas carrion from wolf kills is more dispersed in both time and space. We estimated the total amount of carrion consumed by each scavenger species at both wolf and hunter kills over 4 years. Species with large feeding radii [bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and ravens (Corvus corax)], defined as the area over which a consumer can efficiently locate and integrate resources, dominated consumption at the highly aggregated hunter kills whereas competitively dominant species [coyotes (Canis latrans)] dominated at the more dispersed wolf kills. In addition, species diversity and the evenness of carrion consumption between scavengers was greater at wolf kills than at hunter kills while the total number of scavengers at hunter kills exceeded those at wolf kills. From a community perspective, the top–down effect of predation is likely to be stronger in the vicinity of highly aggregated resource pulses as species with large feeding radii switch to feeding on alternative prey once the resource pulse subsides.
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Claims the paper makes
20 Own interpretation · 16 Own result · 6 No basis given · 3 Sources not found · 3 No full text of the sources · 2 Own method · 1 Partly supported · accuracy not yet measured
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In the paper
“The majority of carrion biomass provided by human hunters comes from the Gardiner Late Hunt, a permit-issued elk (Cervus elaphus) hunt running from early January to mid-February (Lemke et al. 1998).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > I N T R O D U C T I O N
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites Lemke et al. 1998Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Methods identify the late Gardiner elk hunt as the winter harvest and say the season began in early January from 1990. The results report that winter hunts accounted for 1,192 of 1,823 average annual elk removals, supporting a majority of removals. The paper does not establish that these removals supplied a majority of hunter-provided carrion biomass, or specify a mid-February end date or permit issuance. (LLM, conf=0.82)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Species with large feeding radii [bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and ravens (Corvus corax)], defined as the area over which a consumer can efficiently locate and integrate resources, dominated consumption at the highly aggregated hunter kills”
- Also stated in: § Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May · plain
“Ravens and bald eagles consumed significantly more carrion at hunter-kills than at wolf kills (Fig. 3, P < 0.05).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Also stated in: § Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“while the total number of scavengers at hunter kills exceeded those at wolf kills.”
- Also stated in: § Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May · plain
“The average of the maximum number of ravens and bald eagles was higher at hunter kills whereas the opposite pattern was found for magpies and golden eagles (Table 2).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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- Also stated in: § Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“species diversity and the evenness of carrion consumption between scavengers was greater at wolf kills than at hunter kills”
- Also stated in: § R E S U L T S · plain
“We documented 12 scavenger species feeding at wolf kills and four species feeding at hunter kills (Table 1).”
- Also stated in: § D I S C U S S I O N · plain
“Species diversity was found to be higher at wolf kills than at hunter kills (Table 1).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § R E S U L T S · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“species diversity and the evenness of carrion consumption between scavengers was greater at wolf kills than at hunter kills”
- Also stated in: § D I S C U S S I O N · plain
“The evenness of carrion consumption among species was higher at wolf kills than at hunter kills”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § D I S C U S S I O N · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Multiple regression analysis revealed that SWE and the square of wolf pack size accounted for 59% of the variance in carrion abundance to scavengers.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > R E S U L T S
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Bald eagles, golden eagles, ravens, magpies and coyotes were common at wolf kills during the winter period whereas coyotes were absent at hunter-kills.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > R E S U L T S
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Consumption by magpies and golden eagles did not differ significantly between hunter and wolf kills (P > 0.05).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Mean seasonal (November to May) carrion provided to scavengers from wolves on the northern range was 13 220 ± 383.9 kg.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > R E S U L T S
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Average numbers of scavengers at wolf kills did not change during the human hunting period.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Mammal tracks were not located at any hunter gut piles with the exception of one fox track that was located in the vicinity of the gut piles but not at any one of them in particular.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > R E S U L T S
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Grizzly bears began to emerge from hibernation and feed on wolf kills at the very end of the sample period.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > R E S U L T S
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Grey wolves (Canis lupus) and human hunters both provide resource subsidies to scavengers by provisioning them with the remains of their kills.”
- Also stated in: § I N T R O D U C T I O N · plain
“Human hunters also provide such subsidies to scavengers when they leave behind the entrails of their kills.”
- Also stated in: § R E S U L T S · plain
“Hunters provided significantly more carrion to scavengers (January to mid-February) at 33 203 ± 993 kg (Wilcoxon rank sum test, P < 0.05).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All hunters field-dressed their carcasses and left the entrails behind.
- Also stated in: § I N T R O D U C T I O N · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Ravens and bald eagles consumed significantly more carrion at hunter-kills than at wolf kills (Fig. 3, P < 0.05).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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In the paper
“The primary winter scavengers in Greater Yellowstone are, in order of dominance at carcasses, coyote, golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), bald eagle, raven and magpie (Pica pica) (see Magoun 1976 for similar dominance relationships).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > I N T R O D U C T I O N
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Magoun 1976
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Not matched
In the paper
“As the ratio of wolf pack size to prey size decreases and/or snow depth increases (thus weakening ungulate populations) wolves become increasingly likely to abandon their kills before entirely consuming the carcass (Wilmers et al. 2003).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > I N T R O D U C T I O N
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wilmers et al. 2003 source
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Once all the carrion is consumed in an area, scavengers may switch to feeding on alternative prey and thus become predators (as long as they are not obligate scavengers as is the case with many vulture species in Africa).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We did not observe any of the rare species listed in Table 1 at hunter kills so it is not possible to say whether this is merely a result of more observation minutes at wolf kills or some biological process.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Because of the high temporal and spatial overlap of carrion at hunter kills, scavengers from the local area surrounding the gut piles are super-saturated with resource, leading consumers to recruit from larger and larger areas.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“From a community perspective, the top-down effect of predation is likely to be stronger in the vicinity of highly aggregated resource pulses as species with large feeding radii switch to feeding on alternative prey once the resource pulse subsides.”
- Also stated in: § D I S C U S S I O N · hedged
“Food chain effects are thus likely to be stronger at highly aggregated pulses, and to be influenced by species with large feeding radii, compared with highly dispersed and short-lived resources where competitively dominant species are likely to impact the food chain.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Also stated in: § D I S C U S S I O N · hedged
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“As such, local dynamics such as competition determines access to and consumption of carcasses (Fig. 4, panel 3).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“These two regimes will have different implications on local community dynamics.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Grey wolves in the GYE provide resource subsidies to scavengers in the form of carrion from their kills (Wilmers et al. 2003).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > I N T R O D U C T I O N
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Wilmers et al. 2003 source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Comparison with hunter gut piles is not appropriate, however, because the majority of gut piles from the Gardiner Late Hunt are fully consumed by the time of grizzly den emergence.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This was likely an artefact of exclusion because of the indiscriminate killing of coyotes by humans in the study area outside of YNP.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“To do so would require that they recruit to the area in numbers that are larger than coyotes are capable of because they have smaller feeding radii and may be constrained by territoriality.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“By roosting communally, these birds are able to find out about the location of resources from conspecifics and thus more efficiently track distant resources that are highly aggregated in time and space.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Ravens, for instance, are a predator of the endangered sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) (Autenrieth 1981).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Autenrieth 1981
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The greater diversity of the scavenger community associated with wolf kills compared with human hunter kills reveals the importance of having natural ecological processes occurring in intact ecosystems.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- The quote only partly states this claim. 2
- It may state two separate claims as one. 17
- Probably not a substantial claim. 4
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“competitively dominant species [coyotes (Canis latrans)] dominated at the more dispersed wolf kills.”
- Also stated in: § R E S U L T S · plain
“Bald eagles, golden eagles, ravens, magpies and coyotes were common at wolf kills during the winter period whereas coyotes were absent at hunter-kills.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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The quote only partly states this claim.
- Also stated in: § R E S U L T S · plain
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Carrion from hunter kills is highly aggregated in time and space whereas carrion from wolf kills is more dispersed in both time and space.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The complete absence of coyotes at hunter kills was unexpected as coyote packs are known to occur in the area.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Hunters provided significantly more carrion to scavengers (January to mid-February) at 33 203 ± 993 kg (Wilcoxon rank sum test, P < 0.05).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > R E S U L T S
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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The quote only partly states this claim.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All hunters field-dressed their carcasses and left the entrails behind.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Hunter provided carrion arrives as a large pulse in mid-winter and is more plentiful than wolf provided carrion which arrives consistently over the course of the entire winter.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All hunters field-dressed their carcasses and left the entrails behind.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The average of the maximum number of ravens and bald eagles was higher at hunter kills whereas the opposite pattern was found for magpies and golden eagles (Table 2).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May -Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We observed 202 wolf-killed carcasses and 28 hunter-killed gut piles for a total of 83 325 and 5775 min, respectively.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > R E S U L T S
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The differential success of scavenger species to resources with varying spatial and temporal dynamics suggests an underlying cause for the evolutionary history of these respective species.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Food chain effects are thus likely to be stronger at highly aggregated pulses, and to be influenced by species with large feeding radii, compared with highly dispersed and short-lived resources where competitively dominant species are likely to impact the food chain.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“At hunter-kills, in contrast, the effect is likely to be strong because of the high number of ravens and bald eagles, but narrow because these two species will be doing the bulk of the predation.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Of the common species listed in Table 1 that were not present at hunter kills, it is likely that coyotes were excluded by hunters, while grizzly bears and black bears were in hibernation at the time of the highly aggregated late hunt.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Such supersaturation reduces competition and allows far ranging species to gather in high numbers.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“As wolf kills are spread out over time and space, carrion is under-saturating, leading the competitively dominant coyotes to dominate the resource over other scavengers.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“On the other hand, aggregation of resources benefits bald eagles which are also a species of conservation concern.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This was attributable to a combination of factors: the timing of hunter kills precludes hibernating or migratory species, hunter presence may exclude species wary of being shot, and larger sampling effort at wolf kills made it more likely to detect rare species.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In the neighborhood of wolf kills, the trophic effects of prey switching are likely to be relatively small in magnitude and wide in the number of species participating.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Previous research has shown that generalist species are the most adaptable to tracking resources pulses.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“This study reveals a significant component to ongoing comprehensive research on trophic cascades in the GYE because of wolf restoration (Smith et al. 2003).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Smith et al. 2003 source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“This hunt, which primarily targets Ôantler-lessÕ elk (cows and calves) migrating from Yellowstone National Park (YNP), often produces an annual harvest exceeding 1000 individuals (Lemke et al. 1998).”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > I N T R O D U C T I O N
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Lemke et al. 1998
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We have shown that grey wolves and human hunters alike provide an enormous resource subsidy to Greater Yellowstone's scavengers.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All hunters field-dressed their carcasses and left the entrails behind.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Wolf kills are distributed regionally across the northern range as they are highly dispersed in time and space, and are consumed primarily by nearby animals.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Here, we add a spatial component to resource pulse dynamics and demonstrate that species-specific feeding radii (which is a function of movement capabilities and access to knowledge about food resources) influence an animals ability to track resource pulses.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The authors state this as an assumption.
All hunters field-dressed their carcasses and left the entrails behind.
“we assumed that all hunters field-dressed their carcass thus leaving behind the entrails.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Resources that are more dispersed, conversely, do not saturate local scavenger communities, so that a competitive dominance hierarchy (with grizzly bears and coyotes at the top) determines which species consume the bulk of available scavenge.”
From Gray Wolves as Climate Change Buffers in Yellowstone (2005) · cites this paper as [17]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Gray wolves (Canis lupus) provide carrion to a suite of scavenger species, including the common raven (Corvus corax).”
From Population responses of common ravens to reintroduced gray wolves (2018) · cites this paper as Wilmers, Stahler, et al., 2003
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“While winter‐kill was available across the Northern Range, carrion from late‐winter hunter harvests was historically aggregated both spatially and temporally (Wilmers, Stahler, et al., 2003).”
From Population responses of common ravens to reintroduced gray wolves (2018) · cites this paper as Wilmers, Stahler, et al., 2003
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Highly aggregated or pulsed resources saturate local communities of scavengers, allowing species with better recruitment abilities (animals capable of covering large distances and communicating about the location of resources such as ravens and bald eagles) to dominate consumption at carcasses [17].”
From Gray Wolves as Climate Change Buffers in Yellowstone (2005) · cites this paper as [17]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Ravens (Corvus corax), bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), magpies (Pica pica), coyotes (Canis latrans), grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), and black bears (Ursus americanus) are each frequent visitors at wolf kills [17]”
From Gray Wolves as Climate Change Buffers in Yellowstone (2005) · cites this paper as [17]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
“In panels 1, 3 and 4 resources are likely to be ephemeral and are thus dominated by competitively superior species in the local scavenger pool.”
§ Resource dispersion and consumer dominance: scavenging at wolf-and hunter-killed carcasses in Greater Yellowstone, USA > D I S C U S S I O N
“In panel 4, conversely, resources are likely to be saturating and are thus dominated by species with superior recruitment abilities.”
Citations
Cites
The evolutionary ecology of mast seeding
Kelly, D. (1994) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/0169-5347(94)90310-7 · Cited by 1,051
Pulsed resources and community dynamics of consumers in terrestrial ecosystems
Ostfeld, R. S., & Keesing, F. (2000) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(00)01862-0 · Cited by 796
Predation in Vertebrate Communities
Jędrzejewska, B., & Jędrzejewski, W. (1998) · Ecological studies · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-35364-6 · Cited by 479
SMITH, D. W., PETERSON, R. O., & HOUSTON, D. B. (2003) · BioScience · doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0330:yaw]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 458
Self-citationPredation in Vertebrate Communities: The Bialowieza Primeval Forest as a Case Study
Jędrzejewska, B., & Jędrzejewski, W. (1998) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 453
Wilmers, C. C., Crabtree, R. L., Smith, D. W., Murphy, K. M., & Getz, W. M. (2003) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2003.00766.x · Cited by 354
Self-citationThe Northern Yellowstone Elk: Ecology and Management.
Coe, M. J., & Houston, D. B. (1984) · Journal of Applied Ecology · doi:10.2307/2403067 · Cited by 327
Coyotes. Biology, Behavior, and Management
Horwath, J. L., & Bekoff, M. (1979) · Journal of Wildlife Management · doi:10.2307/3800676 · Cited by 261
THE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF COYOTES: THE EFFECTS OF ALLOCHTHONOUS FOOD SUBSIDIES FROM THE SEA
Rose, M. D., & Polis, G. A. (1998) · Ecology · doi:10.1890/0012-9658(1998)079[0998:tdaaoc]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 259
The Northern Yellowstone Elk: Ecology and Management
Peek, J. M., & Houston, D. B. (1983) · Journal of Wildlife Management · doi:10.2307/3808211 · Cited by 200
Research works printed but not linked: 10
- Autenrieth R., 1981, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Bulletin 9
- Buehler D., 2000, The Birds of North America, No. 506
- Gonzalez M.E., 1999, Seed litter fall in Chusquea quila (Poaceae: Bombusoideae), after synchronous flowering in south‐central Chile, Rev. Chil. Hist. Nat., 72, 169
- LeFrank Jr M., 1983, Working Bibliography of the Golden Eagle and the Genus Aquila
- Lemke T., 2001, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
- Lemke T., 2002, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
- Magoun A.J., 1976, Biology and Resource Management Project, 167
- Murphy K.M., 1997, Encounter competition between bears and cougars: some ecological implications, Int. Conf. Bear Res. Manage., 10, 55
- Swenson J.E., 1986, Ecology of Bald Eagles in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Wildl. Monogr., 1
- Trost C., 1999, The Birds of North America, No. 389, 1
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Top Predators as Conservation Tools: Ecological Rationale, Assumptions, and Efficacy
Sergio, F., Caro, T., Brown, D., Clucas, B., Hunter, J., Ketchum, J., McHugh, K., & Hiraldo, F. (2008) · Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics · doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.39.110707.173545 · Cited by 670
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM RESOURCE PULSES
Yang, L. H., Bastow, J. L., Spence, K. O., et al. (2008) · Ecology · doi:10.1890/07-0175.1 · Cited by 661
Scavenging: how carnivores and carrion structure communities
Rankin, E. E. W., & Wolkovich, E. M. (2011) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2010.12.011 · Cited by 587
Pereira, H. M., & Navarro, L. M. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12039-3 · Cited by 557
The ecological effects of providing resource subsidies to predators
Newsome, T. M., Dellinger, J. A., Pavey, C. R., Ripple, W. J., Shores, C. R., Wirsing, A. J., & Dickman, C. R. (2014) · Global Ecology and Biogeography · doi:10.1111/geb.12236 · Cited by 428
Metadata
- Authors
- Wilmers, C. C., Stahler, D. R., Crabtree, R. L., Smith, D. W., & Getz, W. M.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Yellowstone National Park (US)
- Yellowstone Ecological Research Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wilmers, Christopher C.
- Venue
- Ecology Letters
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2003-09-26
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 996-1003
- ISSN
- 1461-023X (ISSN-L)
- 1461-0248
- OpenAlex
- W2112445376
- Cited by
- 271
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 5.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- escholarship.org
- Locations
- Ecology Letters (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Keywords
- resource dispersion, carrion scavenging, gray wolves, human hunting, resource pulses, competitive dominance, top-down predation, scavenger communities, bald eagle, ravens, coyote, resource subsidies, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-09-29, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-09-29 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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