Stable isotopes reveal larval diet

Abstract

Response to human impacts on the environment are typically initiated too late to remediate negative consequences. We present the novel use of stable isotope analysis (SIA) of blow flies to determine human influences on vertebrate communities in a range of human-inhabited environments, from a pristine national park to a dense metropolitan area. The refrain “you are what you eat” applies to the dietary isotope record of all living organisms, and for carrion-breeding blow flies, this translates to the type of carcasses present in an environment. Specifically, we show that carnivore carcasses make up a large proportion of the adult fly’s prior larval diet, which contrasts to what has been reportedly previously for the wild adult fly diet (which consists of mostly herbivore resources). Additionally, we reveal the potential impact of human food on carcasses that were fed on by blow flies, underscoring the human influences on wild animal populations. Our results demonstrate that using SIA in conjunction with other methods (e.g., DNA analysis of flies) can reveal a comprehensive snapshot of the vertebrate community in a terrestrial ecosystem.