The influence of temperature and humidity on abundance and richness of Calliphoridae (Diptera)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The blowfly species are important components in necrophagous communities of the Neotropics. Besides being involved in the degradation of animal organic matter, they may serve as vectors for pathogens and parasites, and also cause primary and secondary myiasis. The occurrence pattern of these species is well defined, yet it is still not very clear which of these environmental factors determine the structure of the assemblies. This paper was developed to evaluate the influence of mean temperature and relative humidity variation in the abundance and richness of blowflies in the Brazilian southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, where temperature variation is well marked throughout the year. To evaluate this objective, WOT (Wind Oriented Trap) were installed with beef liver as bait in three environments for 10 consecutive days in each month between July 2003 and June 2004. A total of 13,860 flies were collected distributed among 16 species with a higher frequency of Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann, 1819) and Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819). The mean temperature and relative humidity influence the richness of blowflies, with greater richness and abundance in late spring and early summer, whereas abundance was only influenced by temperature. Each species responded differently with respect to these variables, where L. eximia is not influenced by any of the two abiotic factors, despite the high abundance presented. This paper presents the results of the sensitivity for the presence or absence of species of Calliphoridae and on the variation of the abundance of these species under regime temperature changes and relative humidity with implications for public health and animal management. KEYWORDS. Blow flies, diversity, GLM, models.RESUMO. A influência da temperatura e umidade na abundância e na riqueza de Calliphoridae (Diptera). As espécies de Calliphoridae são importantes componentes das comunidades de necrófagos na Região Neotropical. Além de estarem envolvidas na degradação da matéria orgânica animal podem também veicular diversos patógenos e parasitos, bem como causar míiases primária e secundária. O padrão de ocorrência destas espécies está bem definido, mas ainda não se tem muito claramente quais fatores ambientais determinam a estrutura destas assembleias. Desenvolvemos este trabalho com o objetivo de avaliar a influência da temperatura média e umidade relativa do ar na variação da abundância e riqueza de espécies de califorídeos no sul do Rio Grande do Sul, onde a variação da temperatura é bem demarcada ao longo do ano. Para avaliar este objetivo, foram instaladas armadilhas WOT (Wind Oriented Trap) com fígado bovino como isca em três ambientes por 10 dias seguidos em cada mês, entre julho de 2003 e junho de 2004. Foram coletados 13.860 dípteros distribuídos entre 16 espécies com maior abundância de Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann, 1819) e Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819). A temperatura média e a umidade relativa influenciaram a variação da riqueza de espécies de califorídeos, com maior riqueza e abundânci...

Necrophagous diptera associated with wild animal carcasses in southern Brazil

“…The blowfly L. eximia shows a regular occurrence during the whole year; however, in cold seasons C. albiceps visits carcasses only at a low abundance (Souza et al 2008). When the temperature rises above 20°C there is an increase in the abundance of C. albiceps and a reduction or disappearance of L. eximia from ephemeral resources (Vianna et al 2004;Souza et al 2008;Azevedo & Krüger 2013). The coexistence of both species did not occur, probably because L. eximia presents generalist behavior in the exploitation of organic matter in decomposition.…”

First list of parasitoids in flies of medical, veterinary, and forensic importance in Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil

“…The dipterans reported in this study are commonly found in Southern Brazil, in livestock farming areas (Vianna et al, 1998;Bicho et al, 2004;Azevedo and Krüger, 2013) as well as in decomposing carcasses (Souza et al, 2008;Anjos et al, 2010).…”

Predicting Geographic Distribution of Forensically Significant Blow Flies of Subfamily Chrysomyinae (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in Northern Thailand

“…Furthermore, humidity has no influence on any species in this study. Azevedo and Krüger [ 38 ] reported Chrysomya spp. have a positive correlation with temperature; humidity was determined not to be a factor.…”