The life and death of barn beetles: faunas from manure and stored hay inside farm buildings in northern Iceland

Abstract

1. Subfossil beetle remains from archaeological sites have proven invaluable for examining past living conditions, human activities, and their impacts on landscapes and ecosystems. 2. In Iceland, specific economic practices (e.g. land management and natural resource exploitation) and major historical events (i.e. colonisation, economic intensification and commercialisation, and urbanisation) have affected local environments and left recognisable traces in the beetle subfossil record. 3. Understanding the ecology of synanthropic beetles is crucial if they are to be employed in high‐resolution reconstructions of past lifeways and their ecological impacts, yet, because buildings' interiors are rarely the object of systematic entomological research, the ecological requirements of many such species are poorly understood. 4. A survey was conducted of live and dead beetle faunas from habitats that have so far been largely neglected by entomological research: stable manure and stored hay inside farm buildings, two key facets of a northern European pastoral economy. 5. The present results clarify the ecological requirements of some under‐studied synanthropic beetles and the processes by which their exoskeletons may become incorporated into the archaeological record while also producing new records of exotic species recently introduced to Iceland. 6. This paper provides crucial guidance for the interpretation of archaeological beetle assemblages and highlights the potential of further investigations of indoor insect faunas for clarifying the causes, processes, and ecological impacts of recent bio‐invasions.

Perspective of landscape change following early settlement (landnám) in Svalbarðstunga, northeastern Iceland

“…; Forbes et al . ). Aphodius lapponum lives in open environments and is dependent on livestock, as it breeds on the dung of large herbivores such as sheep, horses and cattle (Larsson & Gígja ).…”

“…Remains of L. minutus , a synanthrope indicative of decaying plant matter (Forbes et al . ), were also identified.…”

“…According to Larsson & G ıgja (1959), Buckland et al (1991) and Forbes (2013), Atomaria sp. and L. minutus are associated with mould on plant matter and are common in decaying hay in farm buildings (Buckland et al 1991;Forbes et al 2016). Aphodius lapponum lives in open environments and is dependent on livestock, as it breeds on the dung of large herbivores such as sheep, horses and cattle (Larsson & G ıgja 1959).…”

“…Stellaria media grows on cultivated fields and pasture soil (Porsild & Cody 1980). Remains of L. minutus, a synanthrope indicative of decaying plant matter (Forbes et al 2016), were also identified.…”

A survey of beetles (Coleoptera) from the tundra surrounding the Nunalleq archaeological site, Quinhagak, southwestern Alaska

“…Bigelow et al 2014,Elias 1992, Elias 2000, Elias 2001, Elias and Matthews 2002, Elias and Short 1992, Elias et al 1992, Elias et al 1996, Elias et al 1997, Elias et al 1999, Elias et al 2000, Matthews et al 2003, Reyes et al 2010, Reyes et al 2011, Wilson and Elias 1986, Wooller et al 2011). Sound knowledge of the insect fauna of the study locale is required to both successfully identify disarticulated sub-fossil remains and derive ecological information from them (Elias 2010, Forbes et al 2016). For this reason, it was decided to conduct a small-scale entomological survey concurrently with the archaeological excavations at Nunalleq.…”