Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) utilizing water buffalo dungon the Black Sea coast of Turkey

Sullivan, Greg; Ozman‐Sullivan, Sebahat K.; Lumaret, Jean‐Pierre; Baxter, Greg; Zalucki, Myron P.; Zeybekoğlu, Ünal

doi:10.3906/zoo-1412-2

Cited by 15 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Such shift also occurs in time, for Aphodiinae dominate in abundance during the dry season throughout the whole gradient (totalling > 95% of individuals in all local communities), a pattern also found in other Mediterranean dung beetle assemblages (e.g. Sánchez-Piñero et al, 2004;Sullivan et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Peer Review #2 of "Spatial and temporal variations of aridity shape dung beetle assemblages towards the Sahara desert (v0.1)"

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background. Assemblage responses to environmental gradients are key to understand the general principles behind the assembly and functioning of communities. The spatial and temporally uneven distribution of water availability in drylands creates strong aridity gradients. While the effects of spatial variations of aridity are relatively well known, the influence of the highly-unpredictable seasonal and interannual precipitations on dryland communities has been seldom addressed. Aims. Here we study the seasonal and interannual responses of dung beetle (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) communities to the variations of water availability along an arid to semiarid region of the Mediterranean. Methods. We surveyed a 400 km linear transect along a strong aridity gradient from the Mediterranean coast to the Sahara (Eastern Morocco), during four sampling campaigns: two in the wet season and two in the dry season. We measured richness, abundance and evenness. Variations in community composition between sites, seasons and years were assessed through beta diversity partitioning of dissimiliarity metrics based on species occurrences and abundances. The effects of climate, soil, vegetation and dung availability were evaluated using Spearman-Rank Correlations, GLMs and partial least-squares generalized lineal regressions for community structure, and NMDS, PERMANOVA and dbRDA-based variation partitioning for compositional variations. Results. Dung beetle abundance and richness showed large seasonal variations, but remained relatively similar between years. Increasing aridity resulted in decreasing species richness and an ordered replacement of species, namely the substitution of the trophically diverse Mediterranean fauna by saprophagous and generalist species both in space towards the Sahara and seasonally in the dry season. Indeed, aridity and its interaction with season and year were the strongest correlates of variations in richness and composition. Discussion. Our study shows that aridity determines composition in dung beetle communities, filtering species both in space and time. Besides the expected decrease in richness, such environmental filtering promotes a functional shift to generalist and saprophagous species in arid conditions, probably related to changes in resource quality along the transect and through the year. Our results highlight the importance of considering the effects of the highly-unpredictable seasonal and interannual variations in precipitation when studying dryland communities.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Peer Review #2 of "Spatial and temporal variations of aridity shape dung beetle assemblages towards the Sahara desert (v0.1)"

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When VWC was limiting in the late season, increasing temperature was less conducive for plant root and microbial activities. Other studies also reported a strong soil VWC and soil temperature effect on the fluxes of CO 2 (Lloyd and Taylor, 1994; Smith et al, 2003; Balogh et al, 2011). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Dung beetles feed on the liquid contents of dung and use remaining dung material for housing and food for their brood. According to nesting strategies, dung beetles are grouped in three functional groups: (i) endocoprids (dweller), the beetles live and brood inside the dung pat; (ii) paracoprids (tunneler), the beetles dig burrows and construct nesting chambers with dung materials in the soil below the dung pats; and (iii) telecoprids (ball roller), the beetles form dung balls and roll them some distance away from the dung pat before burial into soil for their brood (Halffter and Edmond, 1982;Sullivan et al, 2016). The abundance of dung beetles increased colonization of dung by arthropods communities, which are major contributors to dung degradation (Pecenka and Lundgren, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dung Beetles Increase Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Dung Pats in a North Temperate Grassland

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil fauna plays a critical role in various ecosystem processes, but empirical data measuring its impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rangelands are limited. We quantified the effects of dung beetles on in situ CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions from simulated cattle dung deposits. Soil in meadows of the semiarid Nebraska Sandhills was treated with three treatments (dung pats with exposure and without exposure to dung beetles, and a no dung control). A closed‐chamber method was used to measure GHG fluxes at 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28, and 56 d after dung placement in the early season (June–August) and late season (July–September) in 2014 and 2015. The greatest dung beetle abundance was 6 ± 2 beetles per quarter pat on Day 7; the abundance decreased to <2 ± 0.6 on Day 14 and 28 and zero on Day 56. Dung beetles increased fluxes of CO2 by 0.2 g C d−1 m−2, N2O by 0.4 mg N d−1 m−2 (only in late season 2015), and CH4 by 0.2 mg C d−1 m−2. These increases were due to beetle‐made macropores that facilitated gas transport in wet dung (initial moisture = 4.6 g g−1 on a dry‐weight basis) within 7 d after dung placement. Seasonal environmental differences resulted in greater CO2, N2O, and CH4 fluxes in the early season than in the late season. This study concluded that dung beetles increased GHG fluxes from early‐ and late‐season dung deposits on meadows of the semiarid Nebraska Sandhills. Core Ideas Dung beetle activities on dung pat enhanced CO2–C emission. The effect of dung beetle activities on N2O emission from dung pat was inconsistent. Soil moisture and temperature had a significant effect on GHG emission.

show abstract

“…In Turkey, there is no study related to beetles with medical and veterinary importance. However, in a study, several species of dung beetles in Scarabaeidae family have been reported from the Black Sea region of Turkey (426).…”

Section: Cystoisosporiasis (Formerly Isosporiasis or Human Cocciddiosis)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of Zoonotic Diseases in Turkey: The One Health Concept and Future Threats

İncı¹,

Doğanay²,

Özdarendeli³

et al. 2018

TurkiyeParazitolDerg

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Zoonotic infections are globally important diseases and lead to huge economic losses in both low-and middle-income and high-income countries. Global warming, environmental and ecological changes, illegal movement of animals and humans, regional civil wars, and poverty are predisposing factors for the emergence of zoonotic infections and their distribution worldwide; they are also a big threat for the future. In addition, environmental pollution and antimicrobial resistance are immense serious threats and dangers to prevent and control zoonotic infections. The natural location of Turkey allows many emerged or re-emerged infections with zoonotic characteristics by animal movements, such as bird immigrations, and by human movements due to civil wars as seen with regional refugees. Numerous zoonotic diseases, including 37 bacterial, 13 fungal, 29 viral, 28 parasitic (3 trematodes, 7 cestodes, 10 nematodes, and 8 protozoan), and totally 107 infections, have been reported from Turkey to date. Additionally, many ectoparasitic zoonoses within 15 different arthropod groups and one leech infestation have been reported from Turkey to date. The "One Health" initiative is particularly relevant for developing strategies to combat zoonotic diseases. In this article, we review the occurrence of zoonotic diseases in man and animals in Turkey in the light of the "One Health" perspective.

show abstract

Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) utilizing water buffalo dungon the Black Sea coast of Turkey

Cited by 15 publications

References 33 publications

Peer Review #2 of "Spatial and temporal variations of aridity shape dung beetle assemblages towards the Sahara desert (v0.1)"

Peer Review #2 of "Spatial and temporal variations of aridity shape dung beetle assemblages towards the Sahara desert (v0.1)"

Dung Beetles Increase Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Dung Pats in a North Temperate Grassland

Overview of Zoonotic Diseases in Turkey: The One Health Concept and Future Threats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About