Species composition and community structure of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) compared among savanna and forest formations in the southwestern Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

Although dung beetles are important members of ecological communities and indicators of ecosystem quality, species diversity, and how it varies over space and habitat types, remains poorly understood in the Brazilian Cerrado. We compared dung beetle communities among plant formations in the Serra Azul State Park (SASP) in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Sampling (by baited pitfall and flight-interception traps) was carried out in 2012 in the Park in four habitat types: two different savanna formations (typical and open) and two forest formations (seasonally deciduous and gallery). A total of 5,400 individuals collected comprised 57 species in 22 genera. Typical savanna had the greatest species richness and abundance, followed by open savanna and deciduous forest, while the gallery forest had the fewest species but high abundance. Tunnelers (one of three main nesting behavior guilds) showed the greatest richness and abundance (except in the gallery forest, where one dweller species was extremely abundant) in all plant formations. We found that species richness and abundance of the dung beetle community are influenced by differences among plant formations. Habitat heterogeneity in the different plant formations along with anthropic influences (fire, habitat fragmentation) are cited as important factors that explain guild and species richness and distribution patterns. These results emphasize the importance of protected areas, such as SASP, for the maintenance and conservation of species diversity in the Brazilian Cerrado.

Interactions between land use, taxonomic group and aspects and levels of diversity in a Brazilian savanna: Implications for the use of bioindicators

“…For instance, we found highest functional diversity of dung beetles in native forests, despite the comparative lower taxonomic diversity (but see Noriega et al, 2021). The finding that Cerrado forests support a relatively low taxonomic diversity of dung beetle is consistent with a previous study (Silva et al, 2020). However, the fact that it has greater functional diversity was not recognized before (Correa et al, 2019).…”

“…The dominant, original vegetation of the Cerrado biome is savanna, but riparian and seasonal forests also commonly occur, especially at the bottom of the valleys or in areas with more nutrient‐rich soils (Miatto & Batalha, 2018). These savannas and forests support distinct species of ants, dung beetles and birds (Pacheco & Vasconcelos, 2012; Silva et al, 2020; Tubelis et al, 2004), but it is not known if they respond differently to land‐use change (but see Queiroz et al, 2017; Rabello et al, 2021 for ants; Almeida et al, 2011; Correa et al, 2019 for dung beetles), or if measures of taxonomic and functional diversity show different responses. Ants, dung beetles and birds are widely used as bioindicators for assessing the effects of habitat modification on biodiversity (e.g.…”

Seasonality and distribution of Coleoptera families (Arthropoda, Insecta) in the Cerrado of Central Brazil

“…In the Cerrado biome, several studies have focused on specific Coleoptera families, for example, Bostrichidae and Curculionidae (Rocha et al, 2011), Cerambycidae (Evangelista et al, 2021), Cetoniidae (Evangelista Neto et al, 2018), Geotrupidae (Rodrigues and Puker, 2013), and Scarabaeidae (Almeida and Louzada, 2009;Nunes et al, 2012;Silva et al, 2020). Most of these studies have evaluated how anthropic impacts, such as urbanization (Correa et al, 2019a(Correa et al, , 2021Frizzas et al, 2020), habitat fragmentation (Pimenta and De Marco, 2015;Silva et al, 2020) and land use (Martello et al, 2016;Correa et al, 2019b;Oliveira et al, 2021), have affected the beetle community. For most families, however, several knowledge gaps still exist, as a reflection of this, new species (Fernandes and Hamada, 2012;Vaz-de-Mello et al, 2020) and new species distribution (Gonçalves et al, 2020;Evangelista et al, 2021) are frequently recorded in the Cerrado.…”

Attractiveness of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) to faeces from native mammals in different trophic guilds

“…The highest abundance occurred in the more closed areas during nocturnal and crepuscular periods, and the highest number of species occurred in the more open areas, with the paracoprids occurring abundantly during the day (Ribeiro et al, 2022). In another study, typical savanna had the greatest species richness and abundance, while the gallery forest had the fewest species but high abundance, with tunnellers showing the greatest richness and abundance in all plant formations (Silva et al, 2020). Mammal defaunation intensity across the Neotropics on average erased 56.5% of the local source fauna, with ungulates comprising the most widespread losses, and in Brazil, the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes are the most affected (Bogoni et al, 2020).…”