Dung beetle

About: Dung beetle is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1312 publications have been published within this topic receiving 33151 citations. The topic is also known as: dung beetle.

Dung beetle ecology

Abstract: In many ecosystems dung beetles play a crucial role--both ecologically and economically--in the decomposition of large herbivore dung. Their activities provide scientists with an excellent opportunity to explore biological community dynamics. This collection of essays offers a concise account of the population and community ecology of dung beetles worldwide, with an emphasis on comparisons between arctic, temperate, and tropical species assemblages. Useful insights arise from relating the vast differences in species' life histories to their population and community-level consequences. The authors also discuss changes in dung beetle faunas due to human-caused habitat alteration and examine the possible effects of introducing dung beetles to cattle-breeding areas that lack efficient native species. "With the expansion of cattle breeding areas, the ecology of dung beetles is a subject of great economic concern as well as one of intense theoretical interest. This excellent book represents an up-to-date ecological study covering important aspects of the dung beetle never before presented."--Gonzalo Halffter, Instituto de Ecologia, Mexico City

Effects of Forest Fragmentation on Dung and Carrion Beetle Communities in Central Amazonia

Abstract: This study, one of the first to document the effects of forest fragmentation on insects in the tropics, showed that dung and carrion beetle communities in 1-ha and 10-ha forest fragments differed from those in contiguous forest, even though the fragments had been isolated by <350 m for an ecologically short time (2-6 yr). During 288 pitfall trap days at the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems study site 80 km north of Manaus, Brazil, I captured 55 species in 15 genera. Trap days were divided equally between three 1-ha, three 10-ha, three clear-cut, and three contiguous forest areas. Pitfall samples from clear-cut areas separating forest fragments from intact forest in- dicated that beetles rarely moved from intact forest into fragments. The apparent barrier imposed by clearcuts diminished with the invasion of second growth. Except for the four species in the genus Glaphyrocanthon, all species were found more frequently in forested areas than in clearcuts. Glaphyrocanthon constituted 97% of the 717 individuals captured in clearcuts and was never captured in contiguous forest or 10-ha fragments. Forest fragments had fewer species, sparser populations, and smaller beetles than com- parable intact forest areas. The changes in dung and carrion beetle communities help explain the low rates at which dung decomposed in 1-ha fragments. Thus, forest fragmentation not only changes the dung and carrion beetle fauna; its effects ramify through other related community and ecosystem processes, as well.