Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:03:49.957Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ARTHROPOD COLONIZATION OF PRE-AGED AS COMPARED WITH FRESH FECES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Ethel D. Helsel  and
D. T. Wicklow
Ethel D. Helsel
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
D. T. Wicklow
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A field study was designed to compare the attractiveness of pre-aged (laboratory incubated) and fresh rabbit feces to potential arthropod colonists. Laboratory collected rabbit feces were incubated on moist peat for intervals of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 days before exposure (48 h) in one of four field sites in northwestern Pennsylvania. Greater numbers and kinds of arthropods were attracted to 0-day-old dung samples than to fecal pellets that were preincubated for 10 or more days in the laboratory. Furthermore, numbers and kinds of arthropods attracted to fecal pellets increased with increasing habitat complexity. The results indicate that loss in attractiveness of aged feces to potential arthropod colonists cannot be attributed entirely to the drying of the substrate or to prior arthropod colonization. It is suggested that microfloral activity contributes to chemical changes in the incubating feces which render them less attractive to potential early colonists.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 110 , Issue 2 , 01 February 1978 , pp. 217 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Edwards, C. A., Reichle, D. E., and Crossley, D. A.. 1973. The role of soil invertebrates in turnover of organic matter and nutrients, pp. 147–172. In Analysis of temperate forest ecosystems. Edited by Reichle, D. E.. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, J. E. and Webster, J.. 1964. An experimental analysis of the coprophilous fungus succession. Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 47: 511–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koskela, H. 1972. Habitat selection of dung-inhabiting staphylinids (Coleoptera) in relation to age of the dung. Ann. Zool. Fenn. 9: 156–171.Google Scholar
Landin, B. O. 1961. Ecological studies on dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Opusc. ent. Suppl. 19. 227 pp.Google Scholar
Larsen, K. 1971. Danish endocoprophilous fungi and their sequence of occurrence. Bot. Tidsskr. 66: 1–32.Google Scholar
Laurence, B.R. 1954. The larval inhabitants of cow pats. J. Anim. Ecol. 23: 234–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodha, B. C. 1974. Decomposition of digested litter, pp. 213–241. In Biology of plant litter decomposition. Vol. 1. Edited by Dickinson, C. H. and Pugh, G. J. F.. Academic Press, London and New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madle, H. 1934. Zur kenntnis der morphologi, okologie und physiologic von Aphodius rufipes L. und/einigen verwandten arten. Zool. Jahrb. (Abt. Anat. Ontogenie) 58: 303–397.Google Scholar
Mohr, C. O. 1943. Cattle droppings as ecological units. Ecol. Monogr. 13(3): 275–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rainio, M. 1966. Abundance and phenology of some coprophagous beetles in different kinds of dung. Ann. Zool. Fenn. 3: 88–98.Google Scholar
Valiela, I. 1974. Composition, food web and population limitation in dung arthropod communities during invasion and succession. Am. Midl. Nat. 92: 370–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wicklow, D. T. and Moore, V.. 1974. The effect of incubation temperature on the coprophilus fungal succession. Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 62: 411–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar