Carrion ecology, i.e. the decomposition and recycling of dead animals, has traditionally been neglected as a key process in ecosystem functioning. Similarly, despite the large threats that inland aquatic ecosystems (hereafter, aquatic ecosystems) face, the scientific literature is still largely biased towards terrestrial ecosystems. However, there has been an increasing number of studies on carrion ecology in aquatic ecosystems in the last two decades, highlighting their key role in nutrient recirculation and disease control. Thus, a global assessment of the ecological role of scavengers and carrion in aquatic ecosystems is timely. Here, we systematically reviewed scientific articles on carrion ecology in aquatic ecosystems to describe current knowledge, identify research gaps, and promote future studies that will deepen our understanding in this field. We found 206 relevant studies, which were highly biased towards North America, especially in lotic ecosystems, covering short time periods, and overlooking seasonality, a crucial factor in scavenging dynamics. Despite the low number of studies on scavenger assemblages, we recorded 55 orders of invertebrates from 179 families, with Diptera and Coleoptera being the most frequent orders. For vertebrates, we recorded 114 species from 40 families, with birds and mammals being the most common. Our results emphasise the significance of scavengers in stabilising food webs and facilitating nutrient cycling within aquatic ecosystems. Studies were strongly biased towards the assessment of the ecosystem effects of carrion, particularly of salmon carcasses in North America. The second most common research topic was the foraging ecology of vertebrates, which was mostly evaluated through sporadic observations of carrion in the diet. Articles assessing scavenger assemblages were scarce, and only a limited number of these studies evaluated carrion consumption patterns, which serve as a proxy for the role of scavengers in the ecosystem. The ecological functions performed by carrion and scavengers in aquatic ecosystems were diverse. The main ecological functions were carrion as food source and the role of scavengers in nutrient cycling, which appeared in 52.4% (N = 108) and 46.1% (N = 95) of publications, respectively. Ecosystem threats associated with carrion ecology were also identified, the most common being water eutrophication and carrion as source of pathogens (2.4%; N = 5 each). Regarding the effects of carrion on ecosystems, we found studies spanning all ecosystem components (N = 85), from soil or the water column to terrestrial vertebrates, with a particular focus on aquatic invertebrates and fish. Most of these articles found positive effects of carrion on ecosystems (e.g. higher species richness, abundance or fitness; 84.7%; N = 72), while a minority found negative effects, changes in community composition, or even no effects. Enhancing our understanding of scavengers and carrion in aquatic ecosystems is crucial to assessing their current and future roles amidst global change, mainly for water–land nutrient transport, due to changes in the amount and speed of nutrient movement, and for disease control and impact mitigation, due to the predicted increase in occurrence and magnitude of mortality events in aquatic ecosystems.

中文翻译：

---

内陆水生生态系统中的腐肉生态学：系统评价

腐肉生态学，即死亡动物的分解和回收，传统上被忽视为生态系统功能的关键过程。同样，尽管内陆水生生态系统（以下简称水生生态系统）面临巨大威胁，但科学文献仍然很大程度上偏向陆地生态系统。然而，在过去的二十年里，关于水生生态系统中腐肉生态学的研究越来越多，强调了它们在养分再循环和疾病控制中的关键作用。因此，对水生生态系统中的食腐动物和腐肉的生态作用进行全球评估是及时的。在这里，我们系统地回顾了有关水生生态系统腐肉生态学的科学文章，以描述当前知识，找出研究差距，并促进未来的研究，加深我们对该领域的理解。我们发现了 206 项相关研究，这些研究高度偏向于北美，尤其是在流水生态系统中，涵盖的时间周期较短，并且忽视了季节性（清除动态的关键因素）。尽管对食腐动物组合的研究数量较少，但我们记录了来自 179 个科的 55 个无脊椎动物目，其中双翅目和鞘翅目是最常见的目。对于脊椎动物，我们记录了 40 个科的 114 个物种，其中鸟类和哺乳动物是最常见的。我们的结果强调了食腐动物在稳定食物网和促进水生生态系统内养分循环方面的重要性。研究强烈偏向于评估腐肉对生态系统的影响，特别是北美鲑鱼尸体的影响。第二个最常见的研究主题是脊椎动物的觅食生态学，主要通过对饮食中腐肉的零星观察进行评估。评估食腐动物组合的文章很少，而且只有少数研究评估了腐肉消费模式，而腐肉消费模式可以作为食腐动物在生态系统中作用的代表。腐肉和食腐动物在水生生态系统中发挥的生态功能是多种多样的。主要生态功能是腐肉作为食物来源和清道夫在养分循环中的作用，出现在52.4%（氮= 108) 和 46.1% (氮= 95) 的出版物，分别。还确定了与腐肉生态相关的生态系统威胁，最常见的是水体富营养化和腐肉作为病原体来源（2.4%；氮= 每个 5）。关于腐肉对生态系统的影响，我们发现了涵盖所有生态系统组成部分的研究（氮= 85），从土壤或水体到陆生脊椎动物，特别关注水生无脊椎动物和鱼类。这些文章中的大多数都发现腐肉对生态系统有积极影响（例如更高的物种丰富度、丰度或适应性；84.7%；氮= 72），而少数人发现了负面影响，群落组成发生变化，甚至没有影响。加强我们对水生生态系统中的食腐动物和腐肉的了解对于评估它们在全球变化中当前和未来的作用至关重要，主要是由于养分移动的数量和速度的变化而导致水陆养分运输，以及疾病控制和影响减轻，由于水生生态系统中死亡事件的发生率和程度预计会增加。