Thousands of wildebeest drowned in the Mara River during their annual migrations, providing an important source of nutrients to animals and bacteria living in the Serengeti, according to a new study.
The 6,250 wildebeest carcasses that clog the river every year “are mineralized by consumers, assimilated by biofilms, transported downstream, or moved back into the terrestrial ecosystem by scavengers,” according to the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Tuesday.
The study, led by Yale University ecologist Amanda Subalusky, used historic reports and field surveys of mass drownings to model just how many wildebeests don’t survive the iconic Mara River crossing.
Subalusky and her co-authors say their results suggest rivers that aren’t part of mass animal migration routes are losing out on key nutrients.
“Similar mass drownings may have played an important role in rivers throughout the world when large migratory herds were more common features of the landscape,” reads Subalusky’s study.
Bone carcasses take up to seven years to decompose, and soft tissue can take up to 10 weeks to decompose, according to researchers. In that time, birds, crocodiles, insects and bacteria feast on the 1,600 tons of wildebeest carcasses floating in the Mara River every year.
“These inputs comprise 34–50% of the assimilated diet of fish when carcasses are present and 7–24% via biofilm on bones after soft tissue decomposition,” the study found.
That’s not all.
As the wildebeest carcasses decompose, they increase phosphorous, nitrogen and carbon levels in the river. The boost in nutrients may also act like a fertilizer for the surrounding landscape.
“Our results show a terrestrial animal migration can have large impacts on a river ecosystem, which may influence nutrient cycling and river food webs at decadal time scales,” reads the study.
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