Finding a fresh carcass: bacterially derived volatiles and burying beetle search success
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CHEMOECOLOGY
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Finding a fresh carcass: bacterially derived volatiles and burying beetle search success Stephen T. Trumbo1 · Sandra Steiger2 Received: 21 February 2020 / Accepted: 20 June 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract When burying beetles first emerge as adults, they search for well-rotted carcasses with fly maggots on which to feed. After attaining reproductive competence, they switch their search and respond to a small, fresh carcass to prepare for their brood. Because the cues used to locate a feeding versus a breeding resource both originate from carrion, the beetles must respond to subtle changes in volatiles during decomposition. We investigated cues used to locate a fresh carcass in the field by (1) a general subtractive method, applying an antibacterial or antifungal compound to reduce microbially derived volatiles, and (2) a specific additive method, placing chemical supplements near a fresh carcass. Five sulfur-containing compounds, known to result from bacterial metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids, were studied: dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS), methyl thiolacetate (MeSAc, also known as S-methyl thioacetate), and methyl thiocyanate (MeSCN). When a carcass aged for 48 h was treated with an antibacterial compound to reduce volatiles, there was a 59% decrease in beetles discovering the resource. The addition of the chemical supplement MeSAc had no effect on discovery of a fresh carcass, while DMS and DMDS had a limited ability to attract breeding beetles. The chemical that was least well known, MeSCN, increased beetle numbers by 200–800% on a fresh carcass and almost guaranteed discovery. DMTS, which is known to attract a variety of carrion insects, was the only compound to significantly reduce beetle presence at a fresh carcass. A laboratory experiment demonstrated that DMTS does not directly inhibit breeding, suggesting that DMTS deters breeding beetles while they fly. Keywords Carrion ecology · Methyl thiocyanate · Dimethyl trisulfide · Forensic entomology · Nicrophorus · Semiochemical
Introduction A complex life requires responses to a series of different cues to organize activities such as feeding, shelter seeking, and reproduction. This has been appreciated since von Uexküll’s Communicated by Günther Raspotnig. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-020-00318-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Stephen T. Trumbo [email protected] 1
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 99 E. Main St., Waterbury, CT 06710, USA
Department of Evolutionary Animal Ecology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
2
classic work described the sequence of signs that allow a tick to locate and exploit its host (see Agamben 2004). The changes in cue–response can be both dramatic and rapid. The seabird tick (Ixodes uriae White) attends to very different volatiles to move from con
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