Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026
05:28
Quantifying Corticolous Arthropods Using Sticky Traps
Published on: January 19, 2020
Species traits predict assemblage dynamics at ephemeral resource patches created by carrion
Philip S Barton1, Saul A Cunningham, Ben C T Macdonald
1Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. philip.barton@anu.edu.au
Plos One
|January 18, 2013
Summary
Carrion decomposition drives insect and plant community changes. Species traits, like dispersal and leaf area, influence how organisms utilize these ephemeral resources, impacting biodiversity and nutrient cycling.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Biodiversity Research
Background:
- Carrion is a crucial, yet transient, resource supporting diverse species involved in decomposition.
- Previous research has documented changes in plant, arthropod, and vertebrate communities at carcasses individually.
- Limited studies have explored how functional traits of various organisms influence their response to carrion patches.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how functional traits of insect and plant assemblages respond to carrion patches.
- To compare the composition and functional traits of insect and plant communities at experimental carcasses versus control sites.
- To understand the role of species traits in exploiting ephemeral carrion resources.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a carrion addition experiment to observe ecological responses.
- Compared insect and plant assemblages at carcass sites with control locations.
- Analyzed changes in community composition, evenness, heterogeneity, and functional traits.
Main Results:
- Insect assemblage evenness and heterogeneity were linked to species' dispersal traits.
- Plant responses to soil nitrogen changes were most notable in graminoids and exotic species.
- Beetles at carcass sites were larger with higher wing loadings; plants with high specific leaf area responded faster.
Conclusions:
- Species' functional traits enable the exploitation of patchy, dynamic resources like carrion.
- Carcasses significantly influence biodiversity dynamics and nutrient cycling.
- Carrion management should consider spatial and temporal continuity to enhance landscape heterogeneity and biodiversity.
Related Concept Videos
00:48Optimal Foraging
How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
02:02Ecological Niches
All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.
00:58Symbiosis
Symbiotic relationships are long-term, close interactions between individuals of different species that affect the distribution and abundance of those species. When a relationship is beneficial to both species, this is called mutualism. When the relationship is beneficial to one species but neither beneficial nor harmful to the other species, this is called commensalism. When one organism is harmed to benefit another, the relationship is known as parasitism. These types of relationships often...
02:40Epiphytes, Parasites, and Carnivores
Plants often form mutualistic relationships with soil-dwelling fungi or bacteria to enhance their roots’ nutrient uptake ability. Root-colonizing fungi (e.g., mycorrhizae) increase a plant’s root surface area, which promotes nutrient absorption. While root-colonizing, nitrogen-fixing bacteria (e.g., rhizobia) convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into ammonia (NH3), making nitrogen available to plants for various biological functions. For example, nitrogen is essential for the biosynthesis of the...
01:29Life Histories
Overview
00:51Energy Budgets
Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species, like annual plants, have only one reproductive episode in their lifetimes and consequently have short lifespans. Iteroparous species, by contrast, have many reproductive events during their lifetimes but have relatively few offspring. These two...