Priority effects on the life‐history traits of two carrion blow fly (Diptera, Calliphoridae) species

Abstract

1. Third instars of the invasive blow fly Chrysomya rufifacies are facultative predators on larvae of the native blow fly Cochliomyia macellaria.2. The effects of priority arrival time on the survivorship and fitness of C. rufifacies and C. macellaria were investigated in laboratory experiments.3. Cochliomyia macellaria colonising a resource within 1-2 days after C. rufifacies resulted in a 20-70% reduction in survivorship, pupal weight and fecundity compared with those colonising a resource more than 2 days before or after C. rufifacies. Inversely, C. rufifacies exhibited a 50% increase in survivorship and fecundity when closely (∼2 days) associated temporally on the resource with C. macellaria and was negatively affected by disparate arrival.4. These results demonstrate that arrival sequence significantly affects the fitness of both C. rufifacies and C. macellaria. Early colonisation may allow C. macellaria to persist in a community, while there are fitness benefits for C. rufifacies colonising after C. macellaria.5. The 60% reduction in C. macellaria survivorship when in close temporal association with C. rufifacies may act as an agent of selection for C. macellaria to colonise a resource early and develop quickly to avoid predation on resources colonised by C. rufifacies.6. Selection for such traits may explain how C. macellaria is able to persist despite intraguild predation by this invasive species. In contrast, the 50% increase in survivorship and fecundity exhibited by C. rufifacies when arriving after C. macellaria may select for C. rufifacies to delay colonisation.

Necrobiome framework for bridging decomposition ecology of autotrophically and heterotrophically derived organic matter

“…Research has also explored species interactions among carrion arthropods ranging from competition (Goodbrod and Goff ), niche partitioning (Denno and Cothran ), predator–prey interactions (Brundage et al. ), and trophic cascades responsible for variability in succession trajectories (Pechal et al. ).…”

Gene expression correlates of facultative predation in the blow fly Chrysomya rufifacies (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

“…Though first instars feed solely on decaying animal tissues, second and third instars also engage in facultative predation and cannibalism (Chitnis, 1965;Wells & Greenberg, 1992a, 1992b though these previous studies relied exclusively on observations under laboratory conditions. Some of the potential ecological ramifications of this predatory behavior in invasive territories include driving the local extinction of native fauna, altering attraction and colonization patterns of carrion by other blow flies (Brundage, Benbow, & Tomberlin, 2014;Spindola, Zheng, Tomberlin, & Thyssen, 2016), and changing the predation patterns of beetle species (Wells & Greenberg, 1992a). Therefore, work with C. rufifacies presents an opportunity to study the ecological impact and molecular regulation of a complex behavior in an invasive species.…”

How do invasive species affect native species? Experimental evidence from a carrion blowfly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) system

“…Furthermore, Brundage et al . () observed that when C. macellaria larvae arrived 2 days after C. rufifacies, they exhibited the most dramatic decrease in survivorship, pupal weight, and adult longevity of all treatments.…”

“…However, Brundage et al . () demonstrated that C. rufifacies had greater fitness when colonising a resource concurrently with C. macellaria , suggesting that a predator–prey relationship between those species might impact the dynamics of carrion colonisation as strongly as competition for food (Brundage et al ., ). In this respect our results confirm previous studies on the same competition model (Wells & Greenberg, ), in which a deleterious effect of C. rufifacies on C. macellaria populations was observed across a range of densities.…”

“…This idea was corroborated by Brundage et al . (), who demonstrated that C. rufifacies requires resource modification by a primary coloniser (i.e. another Calliphoridae species) to enable efficient nutrient intake.…”