Mass mortality events are increasing globally with most common reasons being disease and biotoxicity (Fey et al. 2015). To examine the ecological effect of varying methods for handling mass mortality events (MME) on the environment, wildlife carcasses were placed in the John Starr Forest in Mississippi in June, 2016. This study examined two sites with 25 kg and 725 kg of carcasses. Carcass plots were either open or closed to scavengers. Soil cores were retrieved at three depths (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm) and five locations (center of carcass mass, 1.52 m and 3.05 m north and south of center) from each plot. Soils were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), NH4-N, NO3-N, DON, PO4-P and specific absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA254) to determine the aromaticity of DOC compounds released. Scavengers had a significant effect on concentrations of NO3-N, NH4-N and SUVA254 (p < 0.05) at the 725 kg carcass site but there was no significant effect of scavengers on any of the extractable soil nutrients at the 25 kg carcass site.
Results/Conclusions
At the 25 kg carcass sites NO3-N was 0.47±0.16 and 0.58±0.37 mg kg-1 for protected and open sites respectively. At the 725 kg carcass sites NO3-N was 23±31 and 4±8 mg kg-1 for protected and open sites respectively. Ammonium-N concentration was 1.4±0.6 and 1.6±1.1 mg kg-1 for protected and open plots for the 25 kg carcass sites and 17±22 and 4±5 mg kg-1 for protected and open plots for the 725 kg carcass sites. SUVA254 values ranged from 3.9±1.6 to 5.6±3.7 mg C−1 m−1in the protected and open 25 kg sites and from 11.3±7.0 to 6.8±3.1 mg C−1 m−1in the protect and open 725 kg carcass sites. Orthophosphate-P was increased when comparing the two carcass sites but due to the amount of variability in PO4-P for the three soil depths it was not significant. Dissolved organic C and N showed no significant effect of protection or openness to scavengers nor to the mass of carcass. The results from our study suggest that soil NO3-N and NH4-N will still be significantly increased at 18 months after an MME but access to scavengers will lower the concentrations found in soil.