From WIRED Magazine
Regular watchers of CSI and other forensic shows might
be surprised to learn that forensic entomology is actually a branch of applied
ecology. Decomposition is a critical ecosystem service that humans get for free
and often take for granted.
Necrophagous animals are critical to the Earth’s healthy functioning.
Because of necrophages’ hard work, we aren’t clambering over dead dinosaurs and
spelunking past deceased relatives in a world covered with layer after layer of
corpses. A carcass is an empty bit of habitat waiting to be colonized.
Adult blowflies have
an astonishing sense of smell for putrescine and cadaverine,
molecules¹ that signal a delicious bucket-kicking has
occurred. A dead body is conveniently pre-packaged baby food for fly eggs.
Flies arrive in large numbers within minutes after someone begins
their dirt nap. It’s rather like when a pizza delivery is made to a dorm;
undergraduates magically appear out of thin air, summoned by the yummy
aroma.
Read more here.
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