Chemical cues, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are often essential for insects to locate food. Relative to the volume of studies on the role of VOCs in insect-plant relationships, the role of VOCs emitted by dung and carrion in mediating the behavior of insect decomposers is understudied. Such relationships may provide a mechanistic understanding of the temporal axis of community assembly processes in decomposing insect communities. We focused on the temporal succession of volatiles released by cow dung pats and the potential influence on dung-inhabiting insects. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry we identified and quantified VOCs released from dung 1-h, and 1, 2 3, 5, and 7 d-old. We then related changes in VOCs to successional patterns of dung-inhabiting beetles and flies. We detected 54 VOCs which could be assigned to two successional groups, with chemical turnover in dung changing around day 2. The early successional group consisted primarily of aliphatic alcohols and phenols, and the late one of aliphatic esters, nitrogen- and sulfur-bearing compounds. Flies were predominately associated with the early successional group, mainly with 1-butanol. Beetles were associated predominately with the late-successional group, mainly with dimethyl trisulfide. This association between insect and chemical successional patterns supports the idea that habitat filtering drives the community assembly of dung-inhabiting insects on an aging resource. Moreover, the affinity of both insect groups to specific VOC groups provides a mechanistic explanation for the predictability of successional patterns found in dung-inhabiting insect communities.

化学线索，例如挥发性有机化合物 (VOC)，通常对于昆虫定位食物至关重要。相对于 VOC 在昆虫-植物关系中的作用的大量研究，粪便和腐肉排放的 VOC 在介导昆虫分解者行为中的作用尚未得到充分研究。这种关系可以提供对分解昆虫群落中群落组装过程的时间轴的机械理解。我们关注牛粪释放的挥发物的时间序列以及对粪便栖息昆虫的潜在影响。使用气相色谱/质谱法，我们确定并量化了 1 小时和 1、2 3、5 和 7 天大粪中释放的 VOC。然后，我们将 VOC 的变化与栖息在粪便中的甲虫和苍蝇的演替模式相关联。我们检测到 54 种挥发性有机化合物，可分为两个演替组，粪便中的化学物质周转量在第 2 天左右发生变化。早期演替组主要由脂肪醇和酚类组成，晚期演替组主要由脂肪族酯、含氮和含硫化合物组成. 苍蝇主要与早期演替组有关，主要与 1-丁醇有关。甲虫主要与晚期继承组相关联，主要与二甲基三硫醚相关。昆虫和化学演替模式之间的这种关联支持了这样一种观点，即栖息地过滤会推动栖息在粪便中的昆虫在老化资源上的群落组装。而且，