The interplay among prey preference, nutrient enrichment and stability in an omnivory system

Food webs usually display an intricate mix of trophic interactions where multiple prey are common. In this context omnivory has been the subject of intensive analysis regarding food web stability and structure. In a three species omnivory setting it is shown that the modeling of prey preference by the top predator may exert a strong influence on the short as well as on the long term dynamics of the respective food web. Clearly, this has implications concerning the stability and the structure of omnivory systems under disturbances such as nutrient enrichment

Intraguild predation influences oviposition behavior of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

The objective of the present study was to determine whether blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are able to identify larvae of an intraguild predator species in the substrate and avoid laying eggs there. Blow flies oviposited in traps with different treatments: substrate only and substrate with larvae of Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819), Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794), or Chrysomya putoria (Wiedemann, 1830). Ch. megacephala, Ch. putoria, and Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann, 1819) avoided laying eggs in the trap containing Ch. albiceps larvae. Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius, 1775) did not oviposit differently in each substrate but had overall low abundance. The prevalence of species on corpses may be influenced by the ability of the species to detect the presence of other species, mainly predators. In this sense, intraguild predation may result in misinterpretations of a crime scene and should be considered when assessing the minimum postmortem interval

A review of postfeeding larval dispersal in blowflies: implications for forensic entomology

Immature and adult stages of blowflies are one of the primary invertebrate consumers of decomposing animal organic matter. When the food supply is consumed or when the larvae complete their development and migrate prior to the total removal of the larval substrate, they disperse to find adequate places for pupation, a process known as postfeeding larval dispersal. Several important ecological and physiological aspects of this process were studied since the work by Green (Ann Appl Biol 38:475, 1951) 50 years ago. An understanding of postfeeding larval dispersal can be useful for determining the postmortem interval (PMI) of human cadavers in legal medicine, particularly because this interval may be underestimated if older dispersing larvae or those that disperse longer, faster, and deeper are not taken into account. In this article, we review the process of postfeeding larval dispersal and its implications for legal medicine, in particular showing that aspects such as burial behavior and competition among species of blowflies can influence this process and consequently, the estimation of PMI