Carcass Enrichment Does Not Alter Decay Rates or Arthropod Community Structure: A Test of the Arthropod Saturation Hypothesis at the Anthropology Research Facility in Knoxville, Tennessee

In a test of an arthropod saturation hypothesis, we asked if the 30-yr history of carcass enrichment at the Anthropology Research Facility, Knoxville TN, has altered carcass decay rates or community structure of sarcosaprophagous arthropods, compared with three local nonenriched sites. Over a 12-d p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical entomology 2003-07, Vol.40 (4), p.559-569
Main Authors: Shahid, S. Adam, Schoenly, Kenneth, Haskell, Neal H., Hall, Robert D., Zhang, Wenjun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Feed
Animals
Anthropology - methods
Anthropology Research Facility
arthropod communities
Arthropods
biodegradation
Biological and medical sciences
carcass colonization
carcass decay
carcass disposal
carrion arthropods
carrion insects
carrion-arthropod succession
Coleoptera
community structure
dead animals
Diptera
DIRECT INJURY, MYIASIS, FORENSICS
ecological succession
environmental impact
eutrophication
forensic entomology
Forensic medicine
Geography
habitats
Meat
Medical sciences
Models, Biological
nutrient enrichment
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Reproducibility of Results
sarcosaprophagoius arthropods
Seasons
Social Behavior
species diversity
swine
Tennessee
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Summary:In a test of an arthropod saturation hypothesis, we asked if the 30-yr history of carcass enrichment at the Anthropology Research Facility, Knoxville TN, has altered carcass decay rates or community structure of sarcosaprophagous arthropods, compared with three local nonenriched sites. Over a 12-d period in 1998, using pitfall traps and sweep nets, we sampled a total of 81,000 invertebrates from freshly euthanized pigs (Sus scrofa L.) placed in these sites. From this number, we sorted 69,286 forensically important (sarcosaprophagous) arthropods. The community structure of these organisms, as measured by species and individuals accumulation curves, rarefaction, and nonparametric correlation, was comparable in all four sites in taxonomic similarity, colonization rates, aerial species richness, and ranked abundances of forensically important taxa on a per carcass basis. Measures of carcass decay rate, remaining carcass weight (%) and periodic weight loss, also were similar. In most cases, carcass surface temperatures and maggot mass temperatures were also statistically indistinguishable. Probability-based results and posthoc power analyses of these variables led us to conclude that the sarcosaprophagous arthropod community of the Anthropology Research Facility is representative of surrounding sites.
ISSN:0022-2585
1938-2928
DOI:10.1603/0022-2585-40.4.559