Benefits and challenges of assessing real-world genomics data with Bogi Eliasen

Eliasen, Bogi

doi:10.2217/vjbm-2020-0002

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“…Dung-colonising beetles are no exception; they aerate dung and move it below ground, thereby reducing dung-dwelling parasites (Sands et al, 2017), improving soil structure and quality, facilitating nitrogen and carbon recycling and preventing dung from building up on pasture (Bornemissza, 1970;Fincher, 1981;Yamada et al, 2007;. These services have estimated to contribute at least £400 million to the U.K. agricultural industry annually, calculated to the current day equivalent in 2019 (Beynon et al, 2015;Eliasen, 2019). However, in Northern temperate pastureland systems many dung beetle species are in widespread decline, some having become locally extinct (Bistrom et al, 1991;Lobo et al, 2001;Roslin et al, 2014;Natural England, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive sublethal effects of macrocyclic lactones and synthetic pyrethroids on the dung beetle Onthophagus similis

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Sands

Wall

2019

Bull. Entomol. Res.

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Dung-colonizing beetles provide a range of ecosystem services in farmland pasture systems. However, such beetles are declining in Northern temperate regions. This may, in part, be due to the widespread use of macrocyclic lactones (MLs) and synthetic pyrethroids (SPs) in livestock farming. These chemicals are used to control pests and parasites of cattle; the residues of which are excreted in dung at concentrations toxic to insects. While the lethal effects of such residues are well known, sublethal effects are less understood. Any effects, however, may have important consequences for beetle populations, particularly if they affect reproduction. To investigate, the impact of ML and SP exposure on the reproductive output of Onthophagus similis (Scriba), a Northern temperate dung beetle species, was examined. In laboratory trials, field-collected adult O. similis exposed to the ML ivermectin at 1 ppm (wet weight) over a period of 3 weeks had smaller oocytes (p = 0.016), smaller fat bodies and reduced motility compared to the control. In a farm-level investigation, cattle dung-baited pitfall trapping was undertaken on 23 beef cattle farms in SW England, which either used MLs (n = 9), SPs (n = 7) or neither chemical (n = 7). On farms that used no MLs or SPs, 24.2% of females caught were gravid. However, on farms that used MLs no gravid females were caught, and only 1% of the beetles caught on farms using SPs were gravid (p < 0.001). The association between ML and SP use and impaired reproductive output suggests that the use of such chemicals is likely to be ecologically damaging.

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