Okpara Patricia, VanLaerhoven Sherah
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada.
Insects. 2023 Jan 29;14(2):139. doi: 10.3390/insects14020139.
Blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) interactions vary between competition and facilitation. Female blow flies engage in aggregated egg-laying, resulting in larval feeding masses differing in density and species composition. Numerous species are abundant within the same season, and some oviposit near or directly on eggs of other species, modifying their oviposition location choice depending on the presence or absence of other species. The ability to coexist on carrion, a temporary resource, was successfully attributed to resource, spatial, and temporal heterogeneity. Despite these broad categorizations, the specific mechanisms of coexistence within blow fly communities require further investigation. This study investigates variation in temperature and larval density as potential mechanisms of coexistence between two forensically important blow fly species: Meigen and Meigen (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Larval density, species ratio mix, and ambient temperature during development were manipulated in the presence of conspecifics and heterospecifics in the laboratory, and the fitness of each species was measured. In heterospecific treatments, the survival and body size of increased even at high ambient temperatures. In contrast, the survival of remained unaffected by density or presence of heterospecifics, whereas body size increased in -dominated heterospecific treatments depending on temperature and density. The negative effects of density were observed at high ambient temperatures, suggesting that density impacts are a function of ambient temperature. Overall, species coexistence was dependent on temperature, which mediated the outcome of species interactions.
丽蝇（双翅目：丽蝇科）的种间相互作用在竞争和促进之间变化。雌性丽蝇进行聚集产卵，导致幼虫取食群体在密度和物种组成上有所不同。许多物种在同一季节数量丰富，一些物种在其他物种的卵附近或直接在其卵上产卵，并根据其他物种的存在与否改变其产卵位置选择。在腐肉（一种临时资源）上共存的能力成功归因于资源、空间和时间异质性。尽管有这些宽泛的分类，但丽蝇群落中共存的具体机制仍需进一步研究。本研究调查了温度和幼虫密度的变化，将其作为两种具有法医重要性的丽蝇物种：[此处原文缺失物种学名]和[此处原文缺失物种学名]（双翅目：丽蝇科）之间共存的潜在机制。在实验室中，在同种和异种存在的情况下，对发育期间的幼虫密度、物种比例组合和环境温度进行了控制，并测量了每个物种的适合度。在异种处理中，即使在高环境温度下，[此处原文缺失物种学名]的存活率和体型也有所增加。相比之下，[此处原文缺失物种学名]的存活率不受密度或异种存在的影响，而在以[此处原文缺失物种学名]为主的异种处理中，体型根据温度和密度而增加。在高环境温度下观察到了密度的负面影响，这表明密度影响是环境温度的函数。总体而言，物种共存取决于温度，温度介导了物种相互作用的结果。
