Insect invasion sequences: Systematic or stochastic?

1. This study examined the invasion sequence of Drosophila species arriving at decomposing strawberries. 2. It was found that the age of fruit affected the likelihood of Drosophila arrival, flies preferring relatively fresh fruit. However, there were no repeatable trends in invasion sequence of Drosophila species, different species responding in a similar manner to changes in fruit age. 3. Although no systematic trends in invasion sequence were observed, species tended to be temporally separated due to stochastic differences in their arrival at the fruit. 4. It is suggested that stochastic, as well as repeatable, temporal separation of species can have an important influence on subsequent community development.