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Habitat Selection in Nicrophoryus investigator and defodiens.

Authors: Menzel, K.
Mentor: Rosemary Smith
Year: 2015
Publisher: UNKNOWN

Abstract

We investigated habitat selection in Nicrophorus investigator, an obligate carrion breeder. The source-sink hypothesis states that some environments will be resource rich and produce a high amount of offspring while other environments will be resource low and produce a low amount of offspring. Carcasses were put out in pairs with one carcass in the meadow and one in the aspen. N. investigator and N. defodiens prefer the meadow to the aspen, the size of the Nicrophorus beetles was larger in the meadow than the aspen, competition was higher in the aspen than in the meadow, and the only successful broods were in the meadow. All of these support that the meadow and aspen are source and sink environments respectively.

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