Rewriting ecological succession history: did carrion ecologists get there first?

Abstract

Ecological succession is arguably the most enduring contribution of plant ecologists and its origins have never been contested. However, we show that French entomologist Pierre Mégnin, while collaborating with medical examiners in the late 1800s, advanced the first formal definition and testable mechanism of ecological succession. This discovery gave birth to the twin disciplines of carrion ecology and forensic entomology. As a novel case of multiple independent discovery, we chronicle how the disciplines of plant and carrion ecology (including forensic entomology) accumulated strikingly similar parallel histories and contributions. In the 1900s, the two groups diverged in methodology and purpose, with carrion ecologists and forensic entomologists focusing mostly on case reports and observational studies instead of hypothesis testing. Momentum is currently growing, however, to develop the ecological framework of forensic entomology and advance carrion ecology theory. Researchers are recognizing the potential of carcasses as subjects for testing not only succession mechanisms (without assuming space-for-time substitution), but also aggregation and coexistence models, diversity-ecosystem function relationships, and the dynamics of pulsed resources. By comparing the contributions of plant and carrion ecologists, we hope to stimulate future crossover research that leads to a general theory of ecological succession.

The amplitude of dead wood resource pulses produced by plantation thinning mediates the assembly of wood‐boring beetles

“…This pattern is typical of degradative heterotrophic succession where species eventually abandon the substrate when their requirements are not met (see Michaud et al. and Nadeau et al. , as well as references therein for a review).…”

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

“…, Michaud et al. ), and identified a relatively predictable community succession of this group (Payne ), which is often used in forensics (Byrd and Castner ). Early work on arthropod communities associated with carrion identified key taxa and their roles in decomposition (Fuller , Bornemissza ).…”

“…, Michaud et al. ), meta‐population theory (Hanski ), and aggregation and coexistence theory (Ives ). Carrion and dung, in particular, have been useful systems to test and develop these theories and mechanistic hypotheses having relevance to many other areas of ecology (see Box 1).…”

A general approach for postmortem interval based on uniformly distributed and interconnected qualitative indicators

“…Carrion insects have long been recognized as useful in estimating PMI [34]. Several insect-related processes were tested or used for this purpose [35, 36], and the ecological succession was presumably the one focusing largest scientific interest [34].…”

“…Several insect-related processes were tested or used for this purpose [35, 36], and the ecological succession was presumably the one focusing largest scientific interest [34]. The succession of insect life stages on carrion represents a regular pattern; therefore, life stages of carrion insects will be used as indicators and their PAI as delineation for lower and upper PMI.…”