Dung beetle assemblages organization in two contrasted areas of the Mediterranean region: affinities and divergences

There have been few ecological studies of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from the Black Sea Region of Turkey. In the RAMSAR-listed wetland system of the Kızılırmak Delta of Turkey's central Black Sea coast, seasonal grazing by domesticated water buffalo produces plentiful dung from April to November. Twenty-three species of dung beetles from 13 genera of Aphodiinae and 4 genera of Scarabaeinae were collected from their dung on two adjacent soil types in 2013. The species were from three functional groups, namely dung dwelling (12), tunneling (10), and ball rolling (1). Thirteen and fourteen species were collected in spring/summer and autumn, respectively, with only 4 species in common. There was a distinct shift from Scarabaeinae (8 of 13 species) in spring/summer to Aphodiinae (10 of 14 species) in autumn. The ten species collected on the sandy clay loam soil were a subset of the 23 species on the sand dunes. On the sandy clay loam, high water tables in winter and soil cracking in summer may exclude deeper tunneling species. The 3:1 ratio of dung dwelling species on the sand compared to the sandy clay loam may suggest a more appropriate dung moisture regime over time that favors successful breeding on the sand.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

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

Sullivan¹,

Ozman‐Sullivan²,

Lumaret³

et al. 2016

Turk J Zool

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“…In that case, the coprophilous insects could still follow the temporal patterns established in the Mediterranean region. Here the saprophagous beetles, especially the competitively dominant large dung relocating species also occur primarily in spring and partly in autumn [38, 56, 65]. Flies on the other hand should be most abundant during summer and early autumn [55, 66, 67].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…24, 37] and sub-tropical and tropical regions [e.g. 28, 38]. However, in contrast to beetles, fly temporal patterns have been studied quantitatively only infrequently [39, 40] and in a rather qualitative manner only [41, 42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Segregation between Dung-Inhabiting Beetle and Fly Species

et al. 2017

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The coexistence of ecologically similar species (i.e. species utilizing the same resource) is a major topic in ecology. Communities are assembled either through the biotic interactions of ecologically similar species, e.g. competition, or by the abiotic separation of species along gradients of environmental conditions. Here, we investigated the temporal segregation, succession and seasonality of dung-inhabiting Coleoptera and Diptera that utilize an identical resource in exactly the same way. The data were collected from two temperate pastures, one in the United Kingdom and the second in the Czech Republic. There was no evident temporal separation between ecologically similar coleopterous or dipterous taxa during succession. In contrast, these two orders were almost perfectly separated seasonally in both combined and site-specific datasets. Flies were most abundant in the summer, and beetles were more abundant in the spring and autumn. Ecologically similar beetles and flies also displayed seasonal separation in both combined and site-specific data. Analyses within site-specific data sets revealed such a separation at both the order and species level. Season is therefore the main temporal axis separating ecologically similar species of dung-inhabiting insects in temperate habitats, while succession aggregates species that may have similar environmental tolerances (to e.g. dung moisture). This separation between ecologically similar taxa of beetles and flies may be attributable to either competition-based niche separation or to temperature tolerance-based habitat filtering, since flies have peak activity in warmer months while beetles have peak activity in cooler months.

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“…This strategy proved fruitful as a greater number of species was collected in autumn (14) than spring/summer (13). The phenomenon of higher diversity of Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae species in summer and autumn, respectively, was also reported by Lumaret and Kirk (1991) and Errouissi et al (2011). In conclusion, the current research provides further confirmation that soil type and season influence the composition of local dung beetle assemblages.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Dung beetles have been reported from almost all environments, except Antarctica and Greenland (Cambefort 1991a). They occur across tropical (Kingston 1977;Peck and Howden 1984;, subtropical (Bornemissza 1976; Monteith and Storey 2013), warm temperate/Mediterranean (Davis 1987(Davis , 1993Kirk 1987, 1991;Jay-Robert et al 2008;Anlas et al 2011a,b;Errouissi et al 2011), cool temperate (Koskela and Hanski 1977;Davis 1993;Hutton and Giller 2004) and alpine (Lumaret and Stiernet 1991) environments that include grazing landscapes (Lumaret and Kirk 1987;Whipple 2011), savannahs (Kunz and Krell 2011), deserts (Matthews 1972;Halffter et al 2011) and rainforests (Andresen 1999;Horgan 2006).…”

Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aspects of temporal resource partitioning among dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of the Kizilirmak Delta on the Black Sea Coast of Turkey

Sullivan¹

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Local assemblages of dung beetles in natural and altered ecosystems worldwide contribute to a suite of ecological functions and ecosystem services, including bioturbation and pest and parasite suppression. There is generally a strong competitive hierarchy for the dung resource among the three main guilds or functional groups of dung beetle species, with ball rollers more competitive than tunnellers, and tunnellers more competitive than dung dwellers. How are inferior competitors able to co-occur or coexist with superior competitors? Temporal resource partitioning is one of the mechanisms that can facilitate cooccurrence and coexistence in local assemblages. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate if, and how, temporal resource partitioning manifests at the interspecific, intraguild and interguild levels in a warm, temperate climate assemblage of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae; Aphodiinae, Scarabaeinae) in the Kizilirmak Delta on the central Black Sea coast of northern Turkey. Twenty three species of dung beetles in three guilds were recorded in a seasonal survey of natural dung pads in 2013. In the summer of 2014, the effects of dung pad size on ball production by the large dung ball roller, Scarabaeus sacer (L.) were investigated with standardised dung pads. Ball production by S. sacer was concentrated on a small number of pads of the three largest sizes. Ball size increased but the number of balls produced per 100 g of dung decreased with increasing pad size. Ball production and time of day were significantly related (P < 0.01). In the summers of 2014 and 2015, standardised dung pads were used in two field experiments at the same site that investigated the effects of dung pad deposition time and exposure period, and their interaction, on species richness, abundance and biomass. During the experiments, an additional four dung beetle species were collected, bringing the total number to 27 species that included one ball rolling, 17 dung dwelling and nine tunnelling species. The large ball roller, S. sacer L., and small and medium-sized tunnellers, dominated assemblages in the first 24 h but they were then superseded by dwellers. Succession was highly compressed, with maximum abundance at 12 h and maximum species richness at 24 h. Regression analysis demonstrated a significant relationship (P < 0.01) between species richness and the inverse of the Berger-Parker dominance index (d); i.e., as the number of species increased, the abundance of individual species became more even. ii In addition, ANOVA was used to model the temporal dung use patterns of the dwelling and tunnelling guilds and correlation analysis was used to determine the interspecific and interguild relationships that underpin those patterns. ANOVA revealed significant effects of dung deposition time, dung exposure period, and their interaction, on the mean abundance of guilds. The tunnelling species appear to have been aggregated firstly by relatively synchronous diel activity and then by habitat filtering along the gradient of dec...

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Dung beetle assemblages organization in two contrasted areas of the Mediterranean region: affinities and divergences

Cited by 11 publications

References 63 publications

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

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

Temporal Segregation between Dung-Inhabiting Beetle and Fly Species

Aspects of temporal resource partitioning among dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of the Kizilirmak Delta on the Black Sea Coast of Turkey

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