Just how important are dung beetles in our livestock systems and what are they doing beyond removing dung? We generally don’t think of the insect communities based around the dung piles in our fields and these include our native dung beetles. But what if we lose these beetles? What effect...
Dung removal by macrofauna such as dung beetles is an important process for nutrient cycling in pasturelands. Intensification of farming practices generally reduces species and functional diversity of terrestrial invertebrates, which may negatively affect ecosystem services. Here, we investigate the effects...
This suggests that dung removal, despite being the most commonly measured function (Raine and Slade, 2019), might not always be a good proxy for other dung beetle functions (Manning et al., 2016). A good understanding of the factors driving ecosystem functions carried out by dung beetles is...
Effect of dung-beetles (Aphodius spp) and earthworms on the disappearance of cattle dung. Oikos. 1979;32:393–402. 18. Hendriksen NB. Consumption and utilization of dung by detritivorous and geophagous earthworms in a Danish pasture. Pedobiologia. 1991;35:65–70. 19. Knight D, Elliott ...
beetles fashion from the elephant dung. We will place these uses in perspective with the other similar uses of animal excreta presented in Additional file1: URs of animals excreta and discuss their therapeutic potential in the light of the mahouts’ own justifications for their therapeutic efficacy...
We provide the first experimental evidence that the body size of African dungs directly influences the type of macronutrients recycled and discuss the importance of dung beetle body size for maintaining soil fertility. Keywords: dung beetles; functional traits; nutrient transfer; soil fertility...