The effect of pioneer carrion beetles on the emission of volatile organic compounds and carrion insect community assembly

Abstract

Mechanisms of carrion insect succession have been interpreted separately from interspecific interactions between early and later colonists or from changes in volatile organic compounds perceived by insects resulting from the progression of decomposition. To link these perspectives, we examined through laboratory and field experiments whether the modification of volatile organic compounds by early colonists could be a mechanism of succession. In the laboratory experiment, we used Necrophila japonica (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) as an early colonist and examined its effects on the emissions of important volatile attractants for carrion insects, dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) and dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) from carcasses. We collected DMDS and DMTS, using the static headspace method, under the following conditions: (i) rat carcass, (ii) rat carcass with artificial damage to the abdomen, (iii) rat carcass fed on by 10 Ne. japonica individuals, and (iv) 10 Ne. japonica individuals, and analyzed the collected gases using a gas chromatograph‐mass spectrometer. After 12 and 30 h, carcasses fed on by Ne. japonica emitted higher concentrations of DMDS and DMTS than in other conditions. In the field experiment, we examined the effects of DMDS and DMTS on the attraction of carrion insects using traps baited with a mixture of DMDS and DMTS, hexane (odors unrelated to carcasses), or an empty microtube. Traps baited with DMDS and DMTS attracted more necrophagous species and individuals than traps not baited with this combination. These results showed that accelerated emissions of DMDS and DMTS from carcasses caused by early colonists may contribute to community assembly during carrion insect succession.