Maggot-Mass Thermogenesis
Definition
The elevation of temperature within a dense larval aggregation by the combined metabolic heat of thousands of larvae. Documented elevations range from 2 to more than 10 degrees C above ambient, accelerating development beyond ambient-temperature predictions.
Related terms
- Accumulated Degree Hours (ADH)
- A temperature-corrected measure of developmental time. Calculated by summing (hourly ambient temperature minus the species-specific base temperature threshold) across the period of...
- Colonisation Interval
- The elapsed time since the first insect colonised the body. Often shorter than the PMI if access was delayed by concealment. An...
- Entomotoxicology
- The analysis of insect tissue for drugs and toxins when decomposition has made conventional biological fluids unavailable. Blow-fly larvae feeding on a...
- Minimum PMI (PMImin)
- The shortest interval consistent with the entomological evidence. In practice this is what entomologists estimate: a floor on elapsed time based on...
- Thermal Bias
- Systematic under- or over-estimation of developmental temperature caused by using distant weather-station data, solar radiation on an exposed body, or micro-environmental features...
Explained in
- Sources of Error and Uncertainty in Entomological PMIThe elevation of temperature within a dense larval aggregation by the combined metabolic heat of thousands of larvae. Documented elevations range from 2 to mor...