A Study of Dog Carcass Communities in Tennessee, with Special Reference to the Insects

Abstract

Many small communities in nature persist for varying periods and ultimately disappear by merger with the larger communities within which they occur. To such units I apply the term microcommunity. The term microsere has been applied by Mohr (1943) to the seral sequence which occurs in small communities of this nature. Microcommunities and microseres are of interest to ecologists in that they are frequently of importance in influencing the structure of the major communities in which they are found. Many studies of the microcommuniiues associated with carrion have been published. Early recognition of this particular microcomnunity is indicated in Brehm's Thierleben (Taschenberg 1877), which contains several plates depicting insect assemblages at various types of carrion and which gives accounts of the habits of some carrion-frequenting insects. Among later and more detailed studies, mention may be made of those of Megnin (1894), Johnston & Villeneuve (1897), Motter (1898), Illingworth (1926), Holdaway (1930), Walsh (1931, 1933), Fuller (1934), Kaufmann (1937), Cole (1942) and Howden (1950). Although many of these studies are excellent and thorough, numerous aspects of carrion microcommunities remain uninvestigated. The present paper attempts an analysis of dog-carcass microcommunities with particular reference to seral development, seasonal variation, and environmental factors. To avoid redundancy, ancd in the interest of brevity, the terms community and sere will generally be used in this paper to refer to carcass microcommunities and microseres. The prefix micro- will be added when it seems desirable to distinguish these entities from larger communities and their seres.