Avoiding competition is thought to explain insect successional patterns on carrion, but few studies have looked at competition directly. We use replacement series experiments with three species of blow flies: Phormia regina (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera:Calliphoridae), and Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) (Diptera:Calliphoridae) to characterize competitive relationships. From experimental results, P. regina showed a significant competitive advantage over L. sericata. Infestation of carrion differs between L. sericata and P. regina; specifically, L. sericata oviposits on carrion without any delay, while P. regina typically delays oviposition. Our findings are consistent with the notion that differences in oviposition times represent a mechanism for L. sericata to avoid potential competition. Competition by C. rufifacies differs since C. rufifacies, in the event of a limited food supply, will prey on other maggot species. In replacement series experiments, C. rufifacies killed all P. regina in mixed treatments, representing an ultimate competitive advantage. In the United States, these two species do not often overlap because of differences in seasonal distribution. However, with climate change, phenological separation may grow less distinct. Surprisingly, in replacement series experiments with C. rufifacies and L. sericata, no competitive interactions were observed. In other studies, L. sericata has been shown to form clusters away from predaceous maggots, allowing improved survival, which may account for the absence of predation by C. rufifacies. Finally, this study shows that replacement series models are useful in measuring competition, supporting the notion that interspecific competition between necrophagous insect species may have driven life history traits of those species.

中文翻译：

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三种法医上重要的苍蝇物种（双翅目：Calliphoridae）之间的竞争：Phormia regina、Lucilia sericata 和 Chrysomya rufifacies

避免竞争被认为可以解释腐肉上的昆虫演替模式，但很少有研究直接关注竞争。我们使用三种苍蝇的替换系列实验：Phormia regina (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae)、Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera:Calliphoridae) 和 Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) (Diptera:Calliphoridae) 来表征竞争关系。从实验结果来看，P. regina 比 L. sericata 显示出显着的竞争优势。L. sericata 和 P. regina 之间腐肉的侵染情况不同；具体而言，L. sericata 在腐肉上排卵没有任何延迟，而 P. regina 通常会延迟排卵。我们的研究结果与产卵时间的差异代表了丝光乳杆菌避免潜在竞争的机制的观点一致。竞争 C. rufifacies 不同，因为 C. rufifacies 在食物供应有限的情况下会捕食其他蛆种。在替代系列实验中，C. rufifacies 在混合处理中杀死了所有 P. regina，代表了最终的竞争优势。在美国，由于季节分布的差异，这两个物种并不经常重叠。然而，随着气候变化，物候分离可能变得不那么明显。令人惊讶的是，在 C. rufifacies 和 L. sericata 的替换系列实验中，没有观察到竞争性相互作用。在其他研究中，L. sericata 已被证明会在远离捕食蛆的地方形成集群，从而提高生存率，这可能是 C. rufifacies 没有捕食的原因。最后，这项研究表明替换系列模型在衡量竞争方面很有用，