2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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5/22/2018 | 9:00 AM - 9:15 AM | A RIVER OF BONES: WILDEBEEST SKELETONS LEAVE A LEGACY OF MASS MORTALITY IN THE MARA RIVER | 321

A RIVER OF BONES: WILDEBEEST SKELETONS LEAVE A LEGACY OF MASS MORTALITY IN THE MARA RIVER

Large ungulate migrations were once features of many landscapes, although they have largely declined or been extirpated. The Serengeti wildebeest migration is the largest remaining overland migration of 1.3 million animals, and it has wide-ranging effects on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Mass drownings occur nearly annually during crossings of the Mara River, resulting in an average of 6,250 carcasses and 1,100 tons of biomass entering the river every year. Approximately half the carcass is soft tissue, which is high in carbon and nitrogen, and it decomposes in 2-10 weeks. The other half of the carcass is bone, which contains 95% of the phosphorus. Bones decompose in 7.4 years, forming a legacy of mass mortality events and influencing the river’s nutrient cycling and food web at decadal time scales. Biofilms that grow on bones differ in productivity and composition from those that grow on rocks. Stable isotope analysis shows that bone biofilm can provide 7-24% of the assimilated diet of fish months after carcasses have otherwise decomposed. The loss of ungulate migrations and associated mass drownings may be reflected in the absence of bones in rivers with unknown ecological consequences.

Mass Mortality
Carrion
Decomposition

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Presenters/Authors

Amanda Subalusky (), University of Florida, asubalusky@ufl.edu;