Abstract
This study examines the functional attributes of Neotropical dung beetles, and, based on the analysis, evaluates the role of dung beetles in pastures and tropical dry forest in El Salvador. Dung beetle diversity was lower in pastures than in forests. However, the total biomass of beetles at similarly-sized dung baits was frequently higher in pastures. Diversity loss followed structured patterns: (1) carrion and fruit feeding beetles were well represented (species number) in the forests but were largely absent from pastures; (2) large ball rollers and small fast tunnellers were present in forests but were absent from pastures; (3) large fast tunnellers and small slow tunnellers were poorly represented in pastures compared to forests but the few species that survived in pastures attained extremely high populations; and (4) each functional group in the species-poor pasture assemblages was divided almost equally into day and night active species. Substrate and habitat generalists that were present in both the forests and pastures were attracted to fruit and carrion in forested habitat but not in open pastures. In open habitats, flies and other insects may be the principal decomposers of decaying fruit and carrion.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- LR:
-
Medium-large ball rollers
- SR:
-
Small ball rollers
- LFT:
-
Medium-large, fast tunnellers
- SFT:
-
Small, fast tunnellers
- LST:
-
Medium-large, slow tunnellers
- SST:
-
Small, slow tunnellers
- LED:
-
Medium-large dwellers
- SED:
-
Small dwellers
- K:
-
Kleptoparasites
- APH:
-
Aphodiidae
References
Andresen E (2003) Effect of forest fragmentation on dung beetle communities and functional consequences for plant regeneration. Ecography 26:87–97. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0587.2003.03362.x
Cambefort Y, Walter P (1991) Dung beetles in tropical forests in Africa. In: Hanski I, Cambefort Y (eds) Dung beetle ecology. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, pp 198–210
Carver RH, Nash JG (2006) Doing data analysis with SPSS: version 14.0. Thomson-Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA, USA
Cornaby B (1974) Carrion reduction by animals in contrasting tropical environments. Biotropica 6:51–63. doi:10.2307/2989697
Didham RK (1998) Altered leaf-litter decomposition rates in tropical forest fragments. Oecologia 116:397–406. doi:10.1007/s004420050603
Didham RK, Ghazoul J, Stork NE, Davis AJ (1996) Insects in fragmented forests: a functional approach. Trends Ecol Evol 11:255–260. doi:10.1016/0169-5347(96)20047-3
Doube BM (1990) A functional classification for analysis of the structure of dung beetle assemblages. Ecol Entomol 15:371–383. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1990.tb00820.x
Doube BM, Giller PS, Moola F (1988) Dung burial strategies in some South African coprine and onitine dung beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae). Ecol Entomol 13:251–261. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1988.tb00354.x
Escobar F, Halffter G, Arellano L (2007) From forest to pasture: an evaluation of the influence of environment and biogeography on the structure of dung beetle (Scarabaeinae) assemblages along three altitudinal gradients in the Neotropical region. Ecography 30:193–208
Estrada A, Coates-Estrada R, Anzures Dadda A, Cammarano P (1998) Dung and carrion beetles in tropical rain forest fragments and agricultural habitats at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. J Trop Ecol 14:577–593. doi:10.1017/S0266467498000418
Fincher GT (1975) Effect of dung beetle activity on the number of nematode parasites acquired by grazing cattle. J Parasitol 61:759–762. doi:10.2307/3279480
Finn JA, Giller PS (2000) Patch size and colonisation patterns: an experimental analysis using north temperate coprophagous dung beetles. Ecography 23:315–327. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0587.2000.d01-1640.x
Finn JA, Gittings T (2003) A review of competition in north temperate dung beetle communities. Ecol Entomol 28:1–13. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2311.2002.00487.x
Flores Rodas M (1976) Conservación forestal en el Istmo: Problemas principales y necesidades. Rev Biol Trop 24:177–186
Gill B (1991) Dung beetles in tropical American forests. In: Hanski I, Cambefort Y (eds) Dung beetle ecology. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, pp 283–303
Gillard P (1967) Coprophagous beetles in pasture ecosystems. J Aust Inst Agric Sci 33:30–34
Giller PS, Doube BM (1989) Experimental analyses of inter- and intraspecific competition in dung beetle communities. J Anim Ecol 58:129–142. doi:10.2307/4990
Glida H, Bertrand M, Peyrusse V (2003) A limiting factor in the abundance of predatory phoretic mites (Acari: Macrochelidae): the seasonal abundance of their phorionts (dung beetles) in southern France. Can J Zool 81:2066–2072. doi:10.1139/z03-199
Halffter G, Edmonds WD (1982) The nesting behavior of dung beetles (Scarabaeinae): an ecological and evolutionary approach. Instituto de Ecología, México, DF
Hernández B, Maes J-M, Harvey CA, Vílchez S, Medina A, Sánchez D (2003) Abundancia y diversidad de escarabajos coprófagos y mariposas diurnas en un paisaje ganadero en el departamento de Rivas, Nicaragua. Agrofor Am 39(40):93–101
Herrich JE, Lal R (1996) Dung decomposition and pedoturbation in a seasonally dry tropical pasture. Biol Fertil Soils 23:177–181. doi:10.1007/BF00336060
Hirschberger P (1999) Larval population density affects female weight and fecundity in the dung beetle Aphodius ater. Ecol Entomol 24:316–322. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2311.1999.00205.x
Horgan FG (2001) Burial of bovine dung by coprophagous beetles from horse and cow grazing sites in El Salvador. Eur J Soil Biol 37:103–111. doi:10.1016/S1164-5563(01)01073-1
Horgan FG (2002) Shady field boundaries and the colonisation of dung by coprophagous beetles in Central American pastures. Agric Ecosyst Environ 92:25–39. doi:10.1016/S0167-8809(01)00261-4
Horgan FG (2005a) Aggregated distribution of resources creates competition refuges for rainforest dung beetles. Ecography 28:603–618. doi:10.1111/j.2005.0906-7590.04177.x
Horgan FG (2005b) Effects of deforestation on diversity, biomass and function of dung beetles on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes. For Ecol Manag 216:117–133. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2005.05.049
Horgan FG (2007) Dung beetles in pasture landscapes of Central America: proliferation of synanthropogenic species and decline of forest specialists. Biodivers Conserv 16:2149–2165. doi:10.1007/s10531-006-9145-3
Klein BC (1989) Effects of forest fragmentation on dung and carrion beetle communities in central Amazonia. Ecology 70:1715–1725. doi:10.2307/1938106
Klein AM, Steffan-Dewenter I, Tscharntke T (2003) Fruit set of highland coffee increases with the diversity of pollinating bees. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 270:955–961. doi:10.1098/rspb.2002.2306
Komar O (2002) Priority conservation areas for birds in El Salvador. Anim Conserv 5:173–183. doi:10.1017/S1367943002002238
Krijger CL, Sevenster JG (2001) Higher species diversity explained by stronger spatial aggregation across six Neotropical Drosophila communities. Ecol Lett 4:106–115. doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2001.00200.x
Laurance WF, Bierregaard RO Jr (1997) Tropical forest remnants: ecology, management and conservation of fragmented communities. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 515–525
Laurance WF, Lovejoy TE, Vasconcelos HL, Bruna EM, Didham RK, Stouffer PC et al (2002) Ecosystem decay of Amazonian forest fragments: a 22-year investigation. Conserv Biol 16:605–618. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01025.x
Macqueen A, Bierne BP (1975) Influence of some dipterous larvae on nitrogen loss from cattle dung. Environ Entomol 4:868–870
Macqueen A, Wallace MMH, Doube BM (1986) Seasonal changes in favourability of cattle dung in central Queensland for three species of dung-breeding insects. J Aust Entomol Soc 25:23–29. doi:10.1111/j.1440-6055.1986.tb01062.x
Montes de Oca E, Halffter G (1995) Daily and seasonal activities of a guild of the coprophagous, burrowing beetle (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae Scarabaeinae) in tropical grasslands. Trop Zool 8:159–180
Nichols E, Larsen T, Spector S, Davis AL, Escobar F, Favila M et al; The Scarabaeinae Network (2007) Global dung beetle response to tropical forest modification and fragmentation: a quantitative literature review and meta-analysis. Biol Conserv 137:1–19. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.01.023
Paulian R (1943) Les Coléoptères: Formes, moeurs, rôles. Payot, Paris, pp 396
Peck SB, Howden HF (1984) Response of a dung beetle guild to different sizes of dung bait in a Panamanian rainforest. Biotropica 16:235–238. doi:10.2307/2388057
Ridsdill-Smith TJ, Hall GP, Craig GF (1982) Effect of population density on reproduction and dung dispersal by the dung beetle Onthophagus binodis in the laboratory. Entomol Exp Appl 32:80–85
Ridsdill-Smith TJ, Hayles L, Palmer MJ (1987) Mortality of eggs and larvae of the bush fly, Musca vetustissima Walker (Diptera: Muscidae), caused by scarabaeinae dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in favourable cattle dung. Bull Entomol Res 77:731–736
Schlapfer F, Schmid B (1999) Ecosystem effects of biodiversity: a classification of hypotheses and exploration of empirical results. Ecol Appl 9:893–912. doi:10.1890/1051-0761(1999) 009[0893:EEOBAC]2.0.CO;2
Shepherd VE, Chapman CA (1998) Dung beetles as secondary seed dispersers: impact on seed predation and germination. J Trop Ecol 14:199–215. doi:10.1017/S0266467498000169
Tyndale-Biscoe M (1978) Physiological age-grading in females of the dung beetle Euoniticellus intermedius (Reiche) Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae. Bull Entomol Res 68:207–217
Tyndale-Biscoe M, Wallace MMH, Walker JM (1981) An ecological study of an Australian dung beetle, Onthophagus granulatus Boheman (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), using physiological age-grading techniques. Bull Entomol Res 71:137–152
Wertheim B, Sevenster JG, Eijs IE, van Alphen JJM (2000) Spatial diversity in a mycophagous insect community: a case study of spatial aggregation vs. resource partitioning. J Anim Ecol 69:335–351. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2000.00396.x
Acknowledgements
The author thanks the Salvadoran Institute of Tourism (ISTU) for access to Walter Deininger National Park; Leopoldo Serrano Cervantes and the agronomy faculty of the University of El Salvador for access and transport to the Comalapa field site; the land owners throughout El Salvador who allowed access to their properties; Norma O’Hea, Martin O’Brien and anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript; and Ana Vilma Valencia Duran for assistance with field work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Horgan, F.G. Dung beetle assemblages in forests and pastures of El Salvador: a functional comparison. Biodivers Conserv 17, 2961–2978 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9408-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9408-2