Native ant (<i>Formica rufa, Formica fusca</i>), <i>Nicrophorus spp.</i> interactions at small mammal carcass resources in the southern Rocky Mountains, Gunnison National Forest, Colorado.

Abstract

Competition for carcass resources can be fierce with a broad range of taxa vying for control of the nutrient rich resource. Arthropod competition for carcasses is well studied. Flies, beetles, and ants are common carcass utilizers. The burying beetle (Nicrophorus spp). is an obligate carrion breeder who has developed many methods of securing carcasses. Ants are opportunistic scavengers who would utilize many resource made available to them, including carcasses. Competition between the two taxa is not well understood, but invasive species Solenopsis invicta and native species of Florida, Solenopsis geminata, have been shown to have significant effect on Nicrophorus reproductive success. The purpose of this study is to investigate if native ants of the higher latitude and elevation of southern Rocky Mountains, Gunnison National forest, Colorado, have the same negative effect on Nicrophorus sequestration of carcass resource for reproduction. The study found the native ant species Formica rufa and Formica fusca had no effect on the burial of carcasses by Nicrophorus. These findings support previously established evidence of decreased competition for carcasses in higher elevations and latitudes.

Local Knowledge Graph (8 entities)

Related Works

Items connected by shared entities, co-authorship, citations, or semantic similarity.

References (17)

2 in Knowledge Hub, 15 external