Oostvaardersplassen carrion experiment

We collected insects and plants at five carrion sites (1 month old red deer Cervus elaphus carcasses) and at paired control sites in spring (May) and summer (late August) 2013 to test whether carrion has lasting trophic effects on taxa other than carrion associated species.In spring we collected arthropods using 3 pitfall traps at each carrion and control site, and in summer we took 3 destructive suction samples at each site.The following groups were identified to species level: Spiders (Araneae) and harvestmen (Opiliones), woodlice (Isopoda), millipedes and centipedes (Myriapoda), earwigs (Dermaptera), beetles (Coleoptera),true bugs (Heteroptera), plant and leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). The following groups were counted: fly larvae, ants (not analyses in the original paper), larvae of fruit flies and Microlepidoptera living in the flower heads of Carduus crispus (also not analyses in the original paper).In late summer we also collected plant material at the sites of the suction sampling to measure plant biomass and C:N ratios of the plant tissue.During the summer sampling, 2 of the original carrion sites could not be found back and were substituted with 2 carcasses that looked approximately of the same age (died at the end of the previous winter).