Species-specific manipulation of microbially-derived volatiles by burying beetle parents

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Behavior and Ethology | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Entomology | Life Sciences

Abstract

1. Hosts and microbes interact in dynamic relationships that can alter the volatile profile emitted by the microbial community. The extent to which closely related species diverge in these relationships is not well known.

2. Burying beetles associate with a rich microbial community that is present on their breeding resource, a small vertebrate carcass. Prior work demonstrated that Nicrophorus orbicollis manage the microbial community during parental care to alter the volatile profile emanating from the nest, reducing cues for competitors that would usurp the resource.

3. The present study extended this work to N. marginatus to first determine the distinctive volatile cues that attract this species to carrion and then to examine whether parents altered the volatile profile as a competitive adaptation.

4. In two field tests, Nicrophorus marginatus was highly attracted to mouse carcasses supplemented with the chemical dimethyl disulfide compared to control carcasses or carcasses supplemented with methyl thiocyanate or dimethyl trisulfide.

5. There was no synergistic effect on attraction when combining dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide.

6. Headspace collection followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses revealed that parents that prepared a carcass reduced the emission of dimethyl disulfide by 70.6%. Methyl thioacetate and methyl thiocyanate were also reduced by carcass preparation, while dimethyl trisulfide and dimethyl tetrasulfide were not.

7. The results suggest that closely related organisms can interact with their microbial communities in species-specific ways to enhance competitive ability.

Comments

[Dataset for article "Species-specific manipulation of microbially-derived volatiles by burying beetle parents" to be published in Ecological Entomology

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