Faunal Succession
Definition
The predictable, roughly ordered replacement of one insect community by another as a cadaver's chemistry and physical condition change through decomposition. Each wave of species exploits a substrate that the previous wave helped create.
- Field
- Forensic entomology
- Mechanism
- Predictable replacement of one insect community by another
- Driver
- Changing cadaver chemistry and physical condition
- Method name
- Basis of the successional method of PMI estimation
Common questions
How does one insect wave create conditions for the next?+
Early colonisers such as blowflies feed on and physically break down soft tissue, which changes the substrate's moisture, odour, and chemistry in ways that make it attractive or accessible to later-arriving species such as beetles, so each wave effectively prepares the ground for the next.
When is the successional method preferred over using larval development data alone?+
Larval development timing works well for early PMI, typically the first days, while succession patterns extend the usable estimation window into weeks or months once development-based dating is no longer informative, making the two methods complementary rather than interchangeable.
Related terms
- Carrion Community
- The full assemblage of arthropods associated with a decomposing body at a given point in time: calyptrate flies, silphid and staphylinid beetles,...
- Dermestidae (Hide Beetles)
- Beetles in the family Dermestidae that colonise remains in the dry or skeletal stage, feeding on desiccated tissue, skin, and hair. Their...
- Indicator Species
- A species whose known arrival window in the local succession series allows the analyst to set a bound on elapsed time. Its...
- Reference Succession Series
- A documented record of which species colonise carcasses in a given region and season, in what order, and for roughly how long....
- Silphidae (Burying Beetles and Allies)
- A family of carrion beetles that arrive during active or advanced decay. Some bury small carcasses for larval feeding; others compete with...