Relationship between numbers of the endangered American burying beetle Nicrophorus americanus Olivier (Coleoptera : Silphidae) and available food resources

doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(96)00158-9

Biological Conservation

Volume 81, Issues 1–2, July–August 1997, Pages 145-152

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(96)00158-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

The American burying beetle Nicrophorus americanus Oliver (Coleoptera : Silphidae), designated in the United States as an endangered species, requires vertebrate carcasses for feeding, breeding and rearing young (optimally 80–200 g for breeding, but beetles readily feed on smaller carcasses). Previous studies at the 29 000 ha Fort Chaffee Military Reservation, Arkansas and the 20 000 ha Camp Gruber Training Site, Oklahoma have shown that with habitat defined based on vegetation, the species is a habitat generalist when feeding. Given that the species was not selective relative to habitat type at Fort Chaffee, we investigated whether there was a relationship between numbers of beetles and measures of vertebrate abundance. For beetles, eight baited pitfall traps were set for three nights in 1992 and 1993 along each of the 52 transects where, in previous years, birds and mammals had been censused. Birds were counted using a modified point-count technique (five counts during May–June 1989–1991), and mammals were sampled with ‘museum special’ snap traps and rat traps (three two-day traping periods during May–June 1989–1991). In analyzing 0–200 g mammals trapped and birds counted on the transects, significant correlations were found of the number of American burying beetles caught with biomass of mammals; biomass of mammals plus birds; numbers of species of mammals; and numbers of individual mammals. American burying beetles frequented sites where small vertebrates (particularly mammals) were relatively abundant, irrespective of the predominant habitat at that site.

References (27)

American Ornithologists' Union
Check-list of North American Birds
(1983)
R.S. Anderson
On the decreasing abundance of Nicrophorus americanus Olivier (Coleoptera : Silphidae) in eastern North America
Coleopterist's Bull.
(1982)
J. Blondel et al.
Point counts with unlimited distance
Stud. Avian Biol.
(1981)
J.B. Cox et al.
Soil Survey of Sebastian County, Arkansas
(1975)
J.C. Creighton et al.
Survey methods for the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) in Oklahoma and Arkansas
(1993)
J.C. Creighton et al.
Habitat preference of the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) in Oklahoma
Southwest. Nat.
(1993)
N. Cressie
Statistics for Spatial Data
(1991)
J.B. Dunning
CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses
(1993)
Great Plains Flora Association
Flora of the Great Plains
(1986)
F.L. Johnson et al.
Floral Inventory of Fort Chaffee, Arkansas
(1990)

D. Keckler

Surfer for Windows

(1994)

B.C. Klein

Effects of forest fragmentation on dung and carrion beetle communities in central Amazonia

Ecology

(1989)

A.J. Kozol et al.

The American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus: studies on the natural history of a declining species

Psyche

(1988)

Cited by (36)

Molecular phylogeny of the burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorinae)
2013, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Citation Excerpt :
The classic work on the biology of Nicrophorus by Pukowski (1933) remains valuable today. Extensive use of burying beetles as research models and the intensive study of the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus Olivier, 1790) have produced a wealth of information on Nicrophorus distribution, habitat preferences, phenology, diel periodicity, physiology, behavior, and their phoretic mites, especially for a subset of the more common North American, European and Japanese species (e.g. Anderson, 1982; Anduaga, 2009; Arce et al., 2012; Bedick et al., 1999; Boncoraglio and Kilner, 2012; Heinrich, 2012; Hocking et al., 2007; Holloway and Schnell, 1997; Hwang and Shiao, 2011; Ikeda at al., 2006; Kishida and Suzuki, 2010; Knee et al., 2012; Leasure et al., 2012; Lomolino et al., 1995; Nisimura et al., 2005; Sikes and Raithel, 2002; Smith et al., 2007; Trumbo and Robinson, 2008). This availability of data on behavior and ecology, albeit for a relatively small subset of the world’s species, makes Nicrophorus a compelling group to analyze life history and ecological traits from a phylogenetic perspective.
Burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorus) are well-known for their monopolization of small vertebrate carcasses in subterranean crypts and complex biparental care behaviors. They have been the focus of intense behavioral, ecological, and conservation research since the 1980s yet no thorough phylogenetic estimate for the group exists. Herein, we infer relationships, test past hypotheses of relationships, and test biogeographic scenarios among 55 of the subfamily Nicrophorinae’s currently valid and extant 72 species. Two mitochondrial genes, COI and COII, and two nuclear genes, the D2 region of 28S, and the protein coding gene CAD, provided 3,971 nucleotides for 58 nicrophorine and 5 outgroup specimens. Ten partitions, with each modeled by GTR + I + G, were used for a 100 M generation MrBayes analysis and maximum likelihood bootstrapping with Garli. The inferred Bayesian phylogeny was mostly well-resolved with only three weak branches of biogeographic relevance. The common ancestor of the subfamily and of the genus Nicrophorus was reconstructed as Old World with four separate transitions to the New World and four reverse colonizations of the Old World from the New. Divergence dating from analysis with BEAST indicate the genus Nicrophorus originated in the Cretaceous, 127–99 Ma. Most prior, pre-cladistic hypotheses of relationships were strongly rejected while most modern hypotheses were largely congruent with monophyletic groups in our estimated phylogeny. Our results reject a recent hypothesis that Nicrophorus morio Gebler, 1817 (NEW STATUS as valid species) is a subspecies of N. germanicus (L., 1758). Two subgenera of Nicrophorus are recognized: Necroxenus Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1933, and Nicrophorus Fabricius, 1775.
Differential responses of scavenging arthropods and vertebrates to forest loss maintain ecosystem function in a heterogeneous landscape
2013, Biological Conservation
Citation Excerpt :
For example, soil temperature, which can increase due to forest fragmentation (Chen et al., 1999), is important for Nicrophorus reproduction because egg mortality of N. quadripunctatus is known to increase with temperature (from 20 °C to 25 °C; Nishimura et al., 2002). The abundance of vertebrates is considered to be an important factor determining Nicrophorus populations (e.g. Holloway and Schnell, 1997). However, the effects of vertebrate abundance on Nicrophorus populations are unclear because we did not accurately estimate vertebrate abundance in this study.
Forest loss and degradation can impact on ecosystem functions. Decomposition of vertebrate carcasses is an important ecosystem function in forests, and burying beetles and scavenging vertebrates is known to contribute to the provision of this function in forests. However, the relative importance of burying beetles and scavenging vertebrates in the removal of vertebrate carcasses has rarely been explored in terms of the impact of forest loss and degradation. Here, we experimentally placed mouse carcasses on forest floors to investigate burial and removal rates by forest animals during a 7-day period at 31 sites (natural broad-leaved forests and conifer plantations in an urban/agricultural matrix) in central Japan. Ninety-six percent of dead mice disappeared with 7 days of being placed on the forest floor. Rates of carcass disappearance increased with forest area surrounding the study sites. Field observations and camera trapping showed that two species of Nicrophorus burying beetles and six species of scavenging vertebrates contributed to the carcass burial and removal. Burial rates by beetles increased with forest area, while removal rates by vertebrates decreased with forest area. Model comparisons showed that the area of both natural forests and plantations surrounding the study sites influenced burial and removal rates. Therefore, forest loss influenced the disappearance rates of vertebrate carcasses. Different responses to forest loss between burying beetles and scavenging vertebrates could maintain the carcass burying/removing function at a landscape level.
Molecular systematics and biogeography of Nicrophorus in part-The investigator species group (Coleoptera: Silphidae) using mixture model MCMC
2008, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorus) are well-known for their biparental care and monopolization of small vertebrate carcasses in subterranean crypts. They have been the focus of intense behavioral ecological research since the 1980s yet no thorough phylogenetic estimate for the group exists. The relationships among the species, and the validity of some species, are poorly understood. Here, we infer the relationships and examine species boundaries among 50 individuals representing 15 species, primarily of the investigator species group, using a mixture-model Bayesian analysis. Two mitochondrial genes, COI and COII, were used, providing 2129 aligned nucleotides (567 parsimony-informative). The Akaike Information Criterion and Bayes Factors were used to select the best fitting model, in addition to Reversible Jump MCMC, which accommodated model uncertainty. A 21 parameter, three-partition GTR + G was the final model chosen. Despite a presumed Old World origin for the genus itself, the basal lineages and immediate outgroups of the investigator species group are New World species. Bayesian methods reconstruct the common ancestor of the investigator species group as New World and imply one later transition to the Old World with two return transitions to the New World. Prior hypotheses concerning the questionable validity of four species names, Nicrophorus praedator, Nicrophorus confusus, Nicrophorus encaustus and Nicrophorus mexicanus were tested. No evidence was found for the validity of the Nicrophorus investigator synonym N. praedator. We found evidence rejecting the species status of N. confusus (NEW SYNONYM of Nicrophorus sepultor). Weak evidence was found for the species status of N. encaustus and N. mexicanus, which are tentatively retained as valid. Our results strongly reject a recently published hypothesis that Nicrophorus interruptus (NEW STATUS as valid species) is a subspecies of N. investigator.
Response of carrion beetles Nicrophorus olidus and Oxelytrum discicolle (Coleoptera: Silphidae) to active and passive restoration in a cloud forest landscape in Mexico
2023, Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
Macrohabitat associations and phenology of carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae, Leiodidae: Cholevinae)
2021, Journal of Insect Conservation
Nature underfoot: Living with beetles, crabgrass, fruit flies, and other tiny life around us
2020, Nature Underfoot: Living with Beetles, Crabgrass, Fruit Flies, and Other Tiny Life Around Us

View all citing articles on Scopus

^∗: Present address: Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

View full text

Article preview

Biological Conservation

Abstract

References (27)

Check-list of North American Birds

On the decreasing abundance of Nicrophorus americanus Olivier (Coleoptera : Silphidae) in eastern North America

Coleopterist's Bull.

Point counts with unlimited distance

Stud. Avian Biol.

Soil Survey of Sebastian County, Arkansas

Survey methods for the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) in Oklahoma and Arkansas

Habitat preference of the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) in Oklahoma

Southwest. Nat.

Statistics for Spatial Data

CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses

Flora of the Great Plains

Floral Inventory of Fort Chaffee, Arkansas

Surfer for Windows

Effects of forest fragmentation on dung and carrion beetle communities in central Amazonia

Ecology

The American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus: studies on the natural history of a declining species

Psyche

Cited by (36)

Molecular phylogeny of the burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorinae)

Differential responses of scavenging arthropods and vertebrates to forest loss maintain ecosystem function in a heterogeneous landscape

Molecular systematics and biogeography of Nicrophorus in part-The investigator species group (Coleoptera: Silphidae) using mixture model MCMC

Response of carrion beetles Nicrophorus olidus and Oxelytrum discicolle (Coleoptera: Silphidae) to active and passive restoration in a cloud forest landscape in Mexico

Macrohabitat associations and phenology of carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae, Leiodidae: Cholevinae)

Nature underfoot: Living with beetles, crabgrass, fruit flies, and other tiny life around us