Effects of Ant Presence on Nicrophorus investigator’s Reproductive Success
Abstract
Burying beetles require carrion in order to successfully reproduce and they compete with vertebrate scavengers, other burying beetles, ants, flies, fungi, and microbes for this ephemeral resource. Burying beetles have mechanisms to combat competition from fly eggs, fungi, and microbes, but interactions between ants and beetles have not been extensively studied, and are not yet well understood. Interactions between the ant species Tapinoma sessile and the burying beetle Nicrophorus investigator may yield a diffuse mutualistic relationship involving the predation of undesired dipteran eggs from the carrion. This study found fly presence reduced successful carcass sequestration by Nicrophorus investigator, with fly presence at the carcass leading to the beetle’s complete failure to bury. Ants (T. sessile, Formica fusca, Formica rufa, Myrmicinae subfamily) were found to have a conditional interaction with flies, for their presences in tandem increased beetle burial success, while pure ant presence was still negative for successful carcass burial.
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References (18)
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