Although many forensic entomological studies have described patterns of carrion insect succession and theoretical studies have explained interspecific interactions that drive succession, empirical studies on the quantitative and ecological aspects of carrion insect succession, such as the degree of historical contingency in community assembly and interspecific interactions during succession, are limited. In this study, I investigated variability in the successional pathways of carrion insect communities in rat carcasses and their decomposition processes, and examined the interspecific interactions involved in succession, such as the effects of carcass utilization by early‐arriving species on late‐arriving species. Members of the families Calliphoridae and Formicidae and the species Eusilpha japonica (Motschulsky) and Nicrophorus concolor Kraatz were chiefly observed. In almost all carcasses, formicid species arrived first, and calliphorid species and E. japonica arrived simultaneously or immediately after. Nicrophorus concolor arrived last, with its time of colonization occurring earlier in carcasses with greater E. japonica abundance. Meanwhile, the early‐arriving species decreased when N. concolor arrived. Nicrophorus concolor tended to reproduce on carcasses with lower cumulative abundance of early‐arriving species and tended to feed on carcasses with greater cumulative abundance of early‐arriving species. These results show that the successional pathways of the chief carrion insect species are highly consistent among carcasses. In contrast, early‐arriving species seem to influence the utilization patterns of carcasses by late‐arriving species, and therefore produce variability in the decomposition process. These results also show that succession could be driven by facilitation and interspecific competition between early‐arriving and late‐arriving species.

中文翻译：

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研究大鼠尸体上昆虫演替的群落组装模式和种间相互作用

尽管许多法医昆虫学研究已经描述了腐肉昆虫的演替模式，并且理论研究已经解释了驱动演替的种间相互作用，但对腐肉昆虫演替的数量和生态方面的实证研究，例如群落组装的历史偶然性程度和在继承，是有限的。在这项研究中，我调查了大鼠尸体中腐肉昆虫群落演替途径的变异性及其分解过程，并检查了演替中涉及的种间相互作用，例如早到物种对尸体利用对晚到物种的影响。主要观察到 Calliphoridae 和 Formicidae 以及 Eusilpha japonica (Motschulsky) 和 Nicrophorus concolor Kraatz 的成员。在几乎所有的屠体中，蚁科物种首先到达，而calliphorid 物种和E. japonica 同时或紧随其后。Nicrophorus concolor 最后到达，其定殖时间较早出现在 E. japonica 丰度较高的屠体中。同时，当 N. concolor 到来时，早到的物种减少了。Nicrophorus concolor 倾向于在早到物种累积丰度较低的尸体上繁殖，并倾向于以早到物种累积丰度较高的尸体为食。这些结果表明主要腐肉昆虫物种的演替途径在尸体之间高度一致。相比之下，早到的物种似乎会影响晚到的物种对尸体的利用模式，因此在分解过程中产生可变性。这些结果还表明，早到和晚到的物种之间的促进和种间竞争可能会驱动演替。