Convergences and divergences between two European mountain dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea)

Abstract

We analyzed the altitudinal change in dung beetle species richness and the relative proportion of higher taxa, as well as the turnover in the type of distribution and range size of species in two mountain chains located at the two extremes of Europe (Western Rhodopes Mountains and the Iberian Central System). Both mountain ranges showed a clear substitution among higher taxa (Aphodiinae-Geotrupinae vs. Scarabaeidae) and species richness variation with the altitude was similar. We suggest that East European dung beetle assemblages are conditioned by a horizontal colonization process in which mountains had been reached in relatively recent geological time by elements coming from different latitudes. In spite of these convergences, Rhodopes dung beetle assemblages are characterized by a significantly lower proportion of narrowly distributed species and a lower relevance of Aphodiinae species in lowland places. Although these divergences can be partially attributed to the dissimilar sampling effort accomplished in both regions, we suggest that the low number on narrowly distributed species could be due to the different role of these two mountain zones as refuges during glaciar-interglaciar Pleistocene cycles.

Seasonal Variation in the Organization of Dung Beetle Communities in the Moroccan Middle Atlas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea)

“…Smaller species compensate for their size by many individuals to achieve the same level of functional efficiency as larger species, hence the combination of the criteria size (or weight) and number of individuals to identify the core and satellite groups. The organization of dung beetle communities in the Middle Atlas, characterized by very few dominant species at the same time, is like those observed in the mountains of alpine areas [23,30,[46][47][48], as well as in Mediterranean environments [29,46,47,[51][52][53][54][55], and in North America [32,49,56].…”

Macroecology of Dung Beetles in Italy

“…We found that elevation acted positively on aphodiines, thus contrasting with hypothesis 6. Previous research showed that the relationship between dung beetle diversity and elevation may show a decreasing pattern (e.g., [85,91,93,94,96,144,145]), a mid-elevation peak [98], or a lack of relationship [99]. Also, previous research showed that elevational range was not an important predictor of dung beetle richness compared to climatic factors [141,146,147].…”

“…(6) Elevation influences dung beetle richness negatively. Dung beetle diversity tends to decline with increasing elevation [1,85,[87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97], although mid-elevation peaks [89,91,98] or a lack of relationship have been also reported [85,99]. Not only at higher elevations temperatures might be too low, especially in winter, but the drying effects of increased windiness and insulation might lead to the rapid desiccation of excrements, especially in the summer, when precipitation may be completely absent [85].…”