Succession and sezonality of necrobiont insects communities on carcasses of small mammals

The presented master thesis describes the changes of insects communities on carcases of small mammals in course of the decay. We focused both on aspects of (temporal) succession as well on season dependent differences in carrion insect community. The study was carried out during the seasons 2014 and 2015; in each of the years we used a different carrion type (2014: mice (Mus musculus) +/- 20g, 2015: brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) 400-500g). Because we wanted to record the actual successional stage, we used a "walk-through" type of traps instead of commonly used pitfall traps. The general succession pattern was similar in both seasons; however the succession course of brown rat carcasses was slightly delayed. The succession was strongly influenced by the first species colonizing the carrion and morover, most of the carcasses were dominated or monopolized by a single species (or species group). Only the carcasses of mice were buried by the burying beetles (Silphinae: Nicrophorus). Bow flies (Calliphoridae) have been identified as the most common members of carrion insect communities. The other important members were the flesh flies (Sarcophagidae), and beetle families Silphidae and Staphylinidae. The highest abundance of insect was observed in summer, lowest abundance either in spring or fall depending on the..