Mass mortality events can saturate an environment with decomposing remains. We lack an understanding of such perturbations and the extent of disruption imposed on the local ecosystem. During such instances, normal patterns of colonization and decomposition of remains by necrophagous arthropods can be retarded resulting in delayed colonization due to the proximity of multiple corpses. Therefore, this study was initiated to investigate the impact of carcasses in close proximity with delayed arthropod access on the associated microbial metabolic community profiles and those in the soil immediately under and adjacent to the remains. Field trials were conducted during the summers of 2013 and 2014 in Texas, USA. Three groups of pig carcasses were accessed: those immediately colonized by dipteran species (i.e., primary invertebrate consumers of carrion) and those experiencing delayed dipteran access by 7 or 14 days. Meteorological data for 2013 showed that the mean temperature was 30.59 ± 7.81 °C, accumulated degree hours (ADH) was 30,131.50, and precipitation was 39.12 mm, while in 2014, the mean temperature was 29.27 ± 6.49 °C, ADH was 28,090.70, and total precipitation was 171.45 mm. Bacterial function on the remains in terms of carbon utilization was significantly different between the years as well as between carcass groups, suggesting an inter-kingdom correlation between bacteria and dipteran activity. In contrast, microbial function in the soil was inconsistent between trials, indicating stochasticity within the system, probably due to differences in abiotic factors such as temperature, ADH, and rainfall.

中文翻译：

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土壤周围和双翅目动物延迟进入猪胴体的细菌对碳的差异利用

大规模死亡事件可以使环境充满腐烂的遗骸。我们对这种扰动以及对当地生态系统造成的破坏程度缺乏了解。在这种情况下，食尸性节肢动物的正常定植和残骸分解模式可能会延迟，导致由于多具尸体的靠近而延迟定植。因此，这项研究的开始是为了调查靠近节肢动物延迟进入的尸体对相关微生物代谢群落特征以及紧邻遗骸下方和附近土壤中的尸体的影响。田间试验于 2013 年和 2014 年夏季在美国德克萨斯州进行。访问了三组猪尸体：那些立即被双翅目物种定殖的猪尸体（即，腐肉的主要无脊椎动物消费者）和那些双翅目进入延迟 7 或 14 天的人。2013年气象资料显示，平均气温为30.59±7.81℃，累积度小时（ADH）为30131.50，降水量为39.12毫米，而2014年平均气温为29.27±6.49℃，ADH为20.709.50，总降水量为 171.45 毫米。就碳利用而言，遗骸上的细菌功能在不同年份和尸体组之间存在显着差异，表明细菌与双翅目活动之间存在跨界相关性。相比之下，试验之间土壤中的微生物功能不一致，表明系统内具有随机性，可能是由于温度、ADH 和降雨等非生物因素的差异。