Species packing and temperature dependent competition among burying beetles (Silphidae, <i>Nicrophorus</i>)

Wilson, David Sloan; Knollenberg, W. G.; Fudge, J.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1984.tb00716.x

Cited by 112 publications

(121 citation statements)

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“…As one example, I have studied four coexisting species of carrion beetles (Silphidae, Nicrophorus), all of whom reproduce exclusively on small carcasses such as dead mice. This is about as narrow a niche as one can imagine, but still the species coexist only by being different --in their seasonal activity, their diurnal activity, their patterns of overwintering, and so on (Wilson et al 1984).…”

Section: Mental Representations As Species Of Thought In Interacting mentioning

confidence: 99%

Species of thought: A comment on evolutionary epistemology

Wilson

1990

Biol Philos

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The primary outcome of natural selection is adaptation to an environment. The primary concern of epistemology is the acquistion of knowledge. Evolutionary epistemology must therefore draw a fundamental connection between adaptation and knowledge. Existing frameworks in evolutionary epistemology do this in two ways; (a) by treating adaptation as a form of knowledge, and (b) by treating the ability to acquire knowledge as a biologically evolved adaptation.

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Section: Mental Representations As Species Of Thought In Interacting mentioning

confidence: 99%

Species of thought: A comment on evolutionary epistemology

Wilson

1990

Biol Philos

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“…Examples include species pairs of Collembola (Kaczmarek, 1975;Longstaff, 1976;Greenslade and Greenslade, 1980;Sparkes, 1982 andHagvar, 1990), cryptostigmatid mites (Anderson, 1978b) and ants (Culver, 1974;Davidson, 1985). Strong interspecific competition for ephemeral resources of dung in sub-tropical habitats (Anderson and Coe, 1974;Ridsdill-Smith et al, 1982;Giller and Doube, 1989) and carrion in tropical and temperate habitats (Wilson et al, 1984;Hanski, 1987 andTrumbo, 1990) has been readily identified. Most of these studies have indicated strong asymmetric competition (e.g.…”

Section: Diversity Of Food Resources and Trophic Speciafizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The diversity of soil communities, the ?poor man's tropical rainforest?

1996

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This paper reviews the various factors that facilitate the high biodiversity of soil communities, concentrating on soil animals. It considers the problems facing soil ecologists in the study of soil communities and identifies the important role such communities play in terrestrial ecosystems. The review also considers diversity and abundance patterns. A range of factors are identified that may contribute to the biodiversity of soil and their role is reviewed. These include diversity of food resources and trophic specialization, habitat favourableness, habitat heterogeneity in space and time, scale and spatial extent of the habitat, niche dynamics and resource partitioning, productivity, disturbance and aggregation.Biodiversity of soil organisms appears high, largely attributable to the nested set of ecological worlds in the soil -the relationship between the range of size groupings of soil organisms relative to the spatial heterogeneity perceived by these various groups -that provide a large 'area for life' for the micro-and mesofauna. The role of aggregation and how it relates to the spatial scale under consideration and to species interactions amongst soil animals is largely unknown at present. The role of disturbance is equivocal and man's activities more often than not seem to lead to a reduced biodiversity of soil communities. This paper also identifies areas where further work is desirable to improve our understanding of the structure and functioning of soil communities.

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“…(Morgan, 1987). There is also evidence to suggest that there are differential tolerances to environmental temperatures among Nicrophorus species (Wilson et al, 1984;Trumbo, 1990;Sikes, 1996;Scott, 1998), which may be related to factors such as body size, pigmentation or evolutionary history and may play a role in species distributions and coexistence. Sympatric species that utilize different thermal and temporal windows for activity have been shown to coexist in the same habitat types without much direct contact (Wilson et al, 1984), and larger species in northern Europe and northeastern North America have been shown to be nocturnal (Scott, 1998).…”

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confidence: 99%

Temperature regulation in burying beetles (Nicrophorusspp.:Coleoptera: Silphidae): effects of body size, morphology and environmental temperature

Merrick

Smith

2004

Journal of Experimental Biology

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This study compares the thermoregulatory ability of three species of burying beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorus hybridus, Nicrophorus guttula and Nicrophorus investigator) that vary significantly in body size. It also explores possible mechanisms for temperature regulation in burying beetles, including physiological and behavioral thermoregulatory strategies, and the influence of environmental temperatures on body temperature and activity times. We measured beetle thoracic and abdominal temperatures before and after short (<5·s) flights, and thoracic temperature during sustained, tethered flights and following flight in the field. We calculated two measures of thermoregulatory ability: the slope of post-flight thoracic temperature against ambient air temperature and the slope of post-flight thoracic temperature against operative flight temperature. Thoracic temperatures following flight were significantly higher than abdominal temperatures, and the largest species, N. hybridus, was determined to be the better thermoregulator, with regression slopes closer to zero (0.315-0.370) than N. guttula (0.636-0.771) or N. investigator (0.575-0.610). We also examined the roles that insulation, wing loading, physiological heat transfer, basking and perceived environmental temperature play on temperature regulation and activity times in Nicrophorus. This study shows that body size, morphological features, such as wing loading and insulation, and perceived environmental temperatures affect thermoregulation and activity times in burying beetles.

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Species packing and temperature dependent competition among burying beetles (Silphidae, Nicrophorus)

Cited by 112 publications

References 13 publications

Species of thought: A comment on evolutionary epistemology

Species of thought: A comment on evolutionary epistemology

The diversity of soil communities, the ?poor man's tropical rainforest?

Temperature regulation in burying beetles (Nicrophorusspp.:Coleoptera: Silphidae): effects of body size, morphology and environmental temperature

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