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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
The association between pasture systems, dung removal and colonization by a local Australian temperate dung beetle assemblage
Agricultural and forest entomology, Vol.27(2), pp.280-293
05/2025
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Abstract
1. Herbivore dung quality (physical and chemical parameters) varies between animal species and animal diet which is influenced by seasonal fluctuations and farm management practices. Subsequently, this influences the reproductive success of dung beetles. In Australian pasture systems, how the introduced dung beetle assemblage interacts in the field with cattle dung derived from different resources is unknown.
2. This study quantifies the colonization by dung beetles (abundance, species richness and evenness) and removal of cattle dung derived from three common temperate pasture systems (improved native, forage oat and rye/clover pasture, henceforth dung type) over 24 h for 12 months.
3. From the three dung types, 13 species of dung beetle were captured. Abundance and species richness were influenced by month and transect, with weak evidence for differences between dung types influencing overall abundance: Onthophagus binodis (49.7%), Aphodius fimetarius (24.4%) and Labarrus lividus (17.1%) were the most abundant species.
4. Dung removal (organic matter) was influenced by month and dung type, with more dung buried in improved native (23.9 g) and rye/clover (24.7 g) derived dung compared with forage oat (12.3 g) dung. Dung beetle abundance was positively correlated with removal of all dung types, with O. binodis biomass significantly influencing dung removal.
5. This study showed that diet of bovine animals weakly influences the abundance of a local dung beetle assemblage, warranting further investigation on the influence of other dung types in different regions. Improvements to reporting of pasture species and growth stage is recommended for comparisons between dung derived sources.
Details
- Title
- The association between pasture systems, dung removal and colonization by a local Australian temperate dung beetle assemblage
- Creators
- Thomas Heddle - University of New EnglandZac Hemmings - University of New EnglandAdrienne Burns - University of New EnglandNigel R. Andrew - University of New England
- Publication Details
- Agricultural and forest entomology, Vol.27(2), pp.280-293
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 14
- Grant note
- RnD4Profit-16-03-016 / Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineer project Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit programme Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Australian Government Council of Australian University Librarians
- Identifiers
- 991013225780202368
- Copyright
- © 2024 The Author(s). Agricultural and Forest Entomology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article