Date of Award

Fall 2018

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Biological Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Carrie L. Hall

Second Advisor

Jeffrey Foster

Third Advisor

Sandra Rehan

Abstract

Nicrophorus (Coleoptera: Silphidae) are a unique genus of beetles in which both parents exhibit parental care. The female parents maintain the carcass resource for the young and directly feed growing larvae, while often the males maintain the carcass and prevent usurpation from congeners and conspecifics in search of the ephemeral resource. The beetles in this genus are known to compete with both animal carcass microbiota and soil microbiota, thus developing several mechanisms to combat these microbes. In this study, four North Americanus Nicrophorus spp. microbiomes were characterized and compared to each other in effort to determine the core Nicrophorus microbiome. In addition, a new gland was discovered in the genus and its microbiota was characterized and compared to other tissues. Further, the microbiome of one species, Nicrophorus marginatus, was altered to study the effects of the internal microbiota on their parental care behavior. Male beetles were found to alter the amount of care provided for the brood, demonstrating the influence of insect microbiota on insect behavior. In addition, offspring from parents given antibiotics were found to take more time to develop within the eggs, but less time to develop into adults.

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