Tertiary Coloniser
Definition
A predator or parasite that feeds on primary or secondary colonisers rather than directly on the body. Their presence on a corpse implies a preceding community they feed on, making them useful succession-stage markers.
- Trophic role
- Predator or parasite of earlier colonisers
- Feeds on
- Primary and secondary colonisers, not the body directly
- Use
- Succession-stage marker in PMI estimation
- Field
- Forensic entomology, insect succession
Common questions
Why does a tertiary coloniser imply an earlier community existed?+
Because these species feed on the flies, beetles or mites that arrived earlier, their presence confirms those prey populations had already established themselves, letting an entomologist infer the body has passed through the earlier succession stages.
Can tertiary colonisers alone estimate time since death?+
Not reliably on their own, since they arrive over a wide window once a food source is present, so their record is used alongside the developmental stage of primary colonisers for a tighter postmortem interval estimate.
Related terms
- Carrion Succession
- The predictable, roughly sequential replacement of insect communities on a decomposing body, driven by changing chemical substrate. Not a strict relay with...
- Faunal Assemblage
- The complete community of arthropod species present at a body at a given time. Comparing an observed assemblage against reference succession data...
- Primary Coloniser
- A species that exploits the body directly, typically arriving at or very soon after death, before decomposition has substantially modified the resource....
- Secondary Coloniser
- A species that requires a chemical or physical change produced by primary colonisers before it can exploit the resource: cheese skippers attracted...
- Successional PMI Window
- The time range implied by knowing that the body is in a particular succession stage. Broader than a development-based estimate but extends...