Competition of insect decomposers over large vertebrate carrion:Necrodes beetles(Silphidae)vs.blow flies(Calliphoridae)  

作　　者：Szymon MATUSZEWSKI Anna MADRA-BIELEWICZ 

机构地区：[1]Laboratory of Criminalistics,Adam Mickiewicz University,Poznan 61-809,Poland [2]Wielkopolska Centre for Advanced Technologies,Adam Mickiewicz University,Poznan 61-614,Poland

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2022年第6期645-656,共12页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：The study was funded by the National Science Centre of Poland(grant no.2016/21/B/NZ8/00788).

摘　　要：Large carrion is inhabited by highly variable and interactive communities of insects.Positive interactions in carrion insect communities have been recently the focus in carrion ecology.In contrast,competition between carrion insects is rather undervalued.Here we provide evidence that blow flies(Calliphoridae)and Necrodes beetles(Silphidae),dominant decomposers of large carcasses in terrestrial habitats,compete over carrion.By reanalyzing the results from 90 pig carcasses,we demonstrated that the contribution of the flies and the beetles to the decay was negatively related.The greater part of the large carrion pool was monopolized by blow flies,whereas Necrodes beetles abundantly colonized carcasses,on which blow flies were less effective as decomposers.In behavioral assays,we found that adult beetles killed 4 times more frequently feeding than postfeeding third instar larvae of the flies,with the large decrease in the killing frequency after the larvae reached the age of early third instar.Therefore,adult Necrodes beetles preferentially killed the larvae that were before or in their peak feeding.The study provides evidence that the interaction between blow flies and Necrodes beetles is a combination of indirect exploitative effects of the flies and direct interference effects of the beetles(the mixed competition).

关 键 词：CARRION COMPETITION interspecific interactions 

分 类 号：Q96[生物学—昆虫学]