Dung beetle traits: a conceptual, experimental and biogeographical approach

Tesis Univ. Granada. Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Biología Fundamental y de SistemasSCARPO Desentrañando los determinantes geográficos y evolutivos de la diversidad de coleóptores coprógafos del Paleártico Occidental (CGL2011-29317) funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

A database of dung beetle trait values from a transect between the Mediterranean and the Sahara

This work provides open access to the data compiled for the following paper Indradatta deCastro-Arrazola, Francisco Sánchez-Piñero, Marco Moretti & Joaquín Hortal. Spatial and seasonal trait selection in dung beetle assemblages along an aridity gradient in the Sahara, currently under review. See the original paper for more details.This database provides average trait measurements for dung beetles surveyed a c. 400 km linear transect following a strong aridity gradient parallel to the Morocco-Algerian border from the semiarid Mediterranean coast in the North towards the hyperarid (i.e. extremely dry) conditions of the Sahara toward the South (see deCastro-Arrazola et al. PeerJ 2018). All morphological traits were measured with a Leica M165C microscope, using Leica Application Suite LAS V4.0 with the Z-builder module to process the images and obtain the measurements. Not all traits could be measured in all 61 species sampled in the study. Adult trophic preferences and dung relocation strategy for feeding purposes (both qualitative traits) were obtained from the literature and expert knowledge. For these categorical traits, values could be assigned with confidence to all species. For continuous traits, we aimed at measuring 10 individuals per species, and finally 80% of species had measures for 5 or more individuals due to the limited numbers of individuals in the samples. The individuals measured for each species were chosen from as many localities as possible to maximise intraspecific trait variation, covering their distribution along the gradient. In total, we measured 23 traits on 347 individuals (mean 5.8 and median 5.0 individuals per species) leading to a total of more than 7000 measurements, complemented with further categorical traits gathered from literature or our own observations in the field.I. deCastro-Arrazola was funded by a FPI grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BES-2012-054353). Surveys and data processing were supported by the Spanish Agency of Innovation (AEI) project SCARPO (grant CGL2011-29317). This work is part of AEI project SCENIC (PID2019-106840GB-C21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)."Peer reviewe

Assessing the functional relationship between dung beetle traits and dung removal, burial, and seedling emergence

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is often assessed through trait diversity. However, the relationship between traits and functions is typically assumed but seldom tested. We analyze the relationship between dung beetle traits and three ecological functions: dung removal, dung burial, and seedling emergence. We set up a laboratory experiment using nine Scarabaeidae species (three endocoprids, four paracoprids, and two telecoprids). We placed a sexual pair of beetles in each experimental unit, together with a mixture of dung and seeds, and measured the amount of dung removed and buried, burial depth, and the number of emerged seedlings. Sixteen morphological traits related to dung removal and burial were measured in each individual. Results indicate that these traits were related to dung beetle performance in dung removal and burial. Most traits were positively related to dung removal, indicating the existence of a general trait syndrome associated with dung manipulation and digging capability. Dung exploitation strategies did not provide further explanatory power. Seedling emergence showed a negative but weak relationship with dung burial amount and depth and species identity. This implies that specific differences in dung–soil interface activity may be important in secondary seed dispersal by dung beetles.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation project SCARPO (grant CGL2011-29317). IdCA was funded by a FPI grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BES-2012-054353) and JAN was supported by a Colombian COLCIENCIAS Ph.D. scholarship

Diversidad espacial del ensamblaje de escarabajos coprófagos (Coleoptera: scarabaeidae: scarabaeinae) en cinco ecorregiones de Sucre, Costa Caribe Colombiana

[EN] Biodiversity changes in space and time generate complex gradients. These gradients affect community structures, generating beta diversity replacement patterns. The two main patterns of spatial replacement are turnover and nestedness. However, there are very few studies that analyze diversity changes along environmental gradients in the Colombian Caribbean region. In an attempt to understand these spatial changes, a complete sampling was conducted in five Colombian Caribbean ecoregions (Golfo de Morrosquillo, Montes de María, Sabanas, San Jorge, and La Mojana) using dung beetles as an indicator. In each region, a linear transect with 20 pitfall traps baited with dung was established. Differences in abundance, richness, Shannon-index, evenness, and beta diversity between ecoregions were evaluated. A total of 923 individuals belonging to 27 species were collected. The tribe Deltochilini and the genus Canthon were the most diverse. The most abundant species was Silvicanthon aequinoctialis. Significant differences were found in the parameters measured between the ecoregions. A Beta diversity index established a clear spatial pattern demonstrating high turnover with low nestedness values. The Montes de María ecoregion has the highest diversity, which was linked with the maintenance of conserved forest fragments. It is advisable to generate conservation strategies and the designation of a new National Natural Park for Montes de María in order to stop the negative impact caused by agricultural and cattle farming expansion in the region. This study represents the first effort to understand dung beetle spatial patterns within the ecoregions of the Colombian Caribbean region through connecting environmental gradients and spatial diversity dynamics.[ES] La biodiversidad cambia en el espacio-tiempo generando gradientes complejos. Estos gradientes afectan la estructura de las comunidades creando dos posibles patrones de recambio espacial, reemplazo o anidamiento. Existen pocos estudios que busquen analizar los cambios de la diversidad a lo largo de gradientes ambientales en la región Caribe de Colombia. Buscando entender estos cambios, se realizó un muestreo en cinco ecorregiones del Caribe colombiano (Golfo de Morrosquillo, Montes de María, Sabanas, San Jorge y La Mojana) usando a los escarabajos coprófagos como un grupo bioindicador. En cada región se estableció un transecto lineal con 20 trampas de caída cebadas con excremento. Se evaluaron las diferencias en la abundancia, riqueza, Shannon-índice, equidad y grupos funcionales entre ecorregiones y condiciones ambientales. Un total de 923 individuos pertenecientes a 27 especies fue recolectado. La tribu Deltochilini y el género Canthon fueron los más diversos. La especie más abundante fue Silvicanthon aequinoctialis. Se encontraron diferencias significativas en los parámetros medidos entre las ecorregiones. La diversidad Beta presenta un claro patrón espacial demostrando un alto recambio y un bajo anidamiento. Los Montes de María presentaron la mayor diversidad, asociada con la conservación de fragmentos de bosque. Es fundamental generar estrategias de conservación y crear un nuevo Parque Nacional Natural para los Montes de María, previniendo el impacto negativo causado por la expansión de la frontera agrícola y ganadera. Finalmente, este estudio representa un primer esfuerzo para entender los patrones espaciales de los escarabajos coprófagos en el Caribe colombiano, relacionando los gradientes ambientales con la dinámica espacial de la diversidad.This project was part of the B. Sc. thesis of Yina Amell-Caez at the biology program of the University of Magdalena supervised by Jorge Ari Noriega

Spatial diversity of dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) in five ecoregions from Sucre, Colombian Caribbean coast.

Biodiversity changes in space and time generate complex gradients. These gradients affect community structures, generating beta diversity replacement patterns. The two main patterns of spatial replacement are turnover and nestedness. However, there are very few studies that analyze diversity changes along environmental gradients in the Colombian Caribbean region. In an attempt to understand these spatial changes, a complete sampling was conducted in five Colombian Caribbean ecoregions (Golfo de Morrosquillo, Montes de María, Sabanas, San Jorge, and La Mojana) using dung beetles as an indicator. In each region, a linear transect with 20 pitfall traps baited with dung was established. Differences in abundance, richness, Shannon-index, evenness, and beta diversity between ecoregions were evaluated. A total of 923 individuals belonging to 27 species were collected. The tribe Deltochilini and the genus Canthon were the most diverse. The most abundant species was Silvicanthon aequinoctialis. Significant differences were found in the parameters measured between the ecoregions. A Beta diversity index established a clear spatial pattern demonstrating high turnover with low nestedness values. The Montes de María ecoregion has the highest diversity, which was linked with the maintenance of conserved forest fragments. It is advisable to generate conservation strategies and the designation of a new National Natural Park for Montes de María in order to stop the negative impact caused by agricultural and cattle farming expansion in the region. This study represents the first effort to understand dung beetle spatial patterns within the ecoregions of the Colombian Caribbean region through connecting environmental gradients and spatial diversity dynamics

Aridity drives the loss of dung beetle taxonomic and functional diversity in three contrasting deserts

[Aim]: Aridity gradients are of great interest for understanding the responses of biodi-versity to water availability and water stress. However, little is known about the re-sponses of many animal groups, which are crucial for assessing the effects of climate change. Here, we study the effects of aridity on dung beetle communities, a group with well- known responses to large-scale environmental gradients.[Location]: Sahara, Kalahari and Chihuahuan deserts. [Taxa]: Dung beetles of the family Scarabaeidae.[Methods]: We conducted standardized surveys along approximately 400 km aridity gradients in each of the three deserts, and measured species richness, abundance, evenness and three aspects of trait- based functional diversity (functional richness, functional evenness and functional dispersion). By using randomization tests and linear mixed models, we compared observed with expected values for functional di-versity indices from null models that hierarchically incorporate additional assembly constraints.[Results]: Overall, we found a decrease of both taxonomic richness and functional dispersion along the three aridity gradients. Also, aridity seems to have mild effects on functional richness and functional evenness. Besides these general trends, we identi-fied differences between deserts in the responses of both taxonomic and functional diversity.[Main conclusions] Aridity shows greater importance than competition and other processes of limiting similarity or stochastic processes in community assembly. Also, the functional hypervolume of dung beetle desert communities decreases with aridity not only due to species loss, but also because of selection of a few distinct phenotypes under harsh environmental conditions. Last, we observed that the different regional pools respond to aridity in different ways. Therefore, understanding future responses of dung beetle communities to the progressive decreases in water availability driven by climate change requires determining how the characteristics of the species in the regional pool interact with aridity-driven assembly processes.PCS-B was supported by CSIC grant JAE INT20_EX_0337, and IdeC-A by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation FPI grant BES-2012-054353. This work is part of project SCENIC (grant PID2019-106840GB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), and fieldwork was supported by project SCARPO (grant CGL2011-29317 funded by Spanish MINECO).Peer reviewe

MOSSAIC: MOSS Analysis Image Collection

This dataset contains a set of images that display moss samples from six distinct species over seedling trays from a common garden experimental set-up. We grow these moss samples on a background of white synthetic material. The capture of the images was in both near-infrared and visible light wavelengths. We provide additional files to fit the main dataset objective: use it as a test platform for evaluating the PhotomossR package. In this repository, you will discover images taken in both the near-infrared and visible light spectrums. These images offer comprehensive data for testing different spectral indices using the PhotomossR package (Molina-Bustamante, DeCastro-Arrazola, Doherty, & Medina, 2022).This work is part of the projects UNITED (CGL2016-78070-P, funded by Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación [AEI] and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional [FEDER] European Union) and SCENIC (PID2019-106840GA-C21 and PID2019-106840GA-C22, funded by Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación [MCIN] and AEI)M. M-B was funded by the Comunidad de Madrid, and the European Social Fund that co-financed through the Youth Employment Operational Program and the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) grant PEJ-2017-AI/AMB-6504.Contains 5 folders based on the locality and date of image capture. Within each locality folder, there are 4 subfolders (nir, vis, rois, mask) and a 'names.csv' file that provides label names for the samples. • "nir" folder with images in the infrared spectrum. Images named by the date of capture. • "vis" folder with images in the visible spectrum. Images named by the date of capture. • "rois" folder that includes roi files. Inside this folder, there are as many subfolders as images in “nir” and “vis” folders. Each subfolder containing the roi files corresponding to the samples we want to analyse in each of the images. • "mask" folder with binary images of moss samples. Files are numerically named.in the order PhotomossR will analyse it.N

A trait-based framework for dung beetle functional ecology

Traits are key for understanding the environmental responses and ecological roles of organisms. Trait approaches to functional ecology are well established for plants, whereas consistent frameworks for animal groups are less developed. Here we suggest a framework for the study of the functional ecology of animals from a trait-based response–effect approach, using dung beetles as model system. Dung beetles are a key group of decomposers that are important for many ecosystem processes. The lack of a trait-based framework tailored to this group has limited the use of traits in dung beetle functional ecology. We review which dung beetle traits respond to the environment and affect ecosystem processes, covering the wide range of spatial, temporal and biological scales at which they are involved. Dung beetles show trait-based responses to variation in temperature, water, soil properties, trophic resources, light, vegetation structure, competition, predation and parasitism. Dung beetles' influence on ecosystem processes includes trait-mediated effects on nutrient cycling, bioturbation, plant growth, seed dispersal, other dung-based organisms and parasite transmission, as well as some cases of pollination and predation. We identify 66 dung beetle traits that are either response or effect traits, or both, pertaining to six main categories: morphology, feeding, reproduction, physiology, activity and movement. Several traits pertain to more than one category, in particular dung relocation behaviour during nesting or feeding. We also identify 136 trait–response and 77 trait–effect relationships in dung beetles. No response to environmental stressors nor effect over ecological processes were related with traits of a single category. This highlights the interrelationship between the traits shaping body-plans, the multi-functionality of traits, and their role linking responses to the environment and effects on the ecosystem. Despite current developments in dung beetle functional ecology, many knowledge gaps remain, and there are biases towards certain traits, functions, taxonomic groups and regions. Our framework provides the foundations for the thorough development of trait-based dung beetle ecology. It also serves as an example framework for other taxa

A trait‐based framework for dung beetle functional ecology

Traits are key for understanding the environmental responses and ecological roles of organisms. Trait approaches to functional ecology are well established for plants, whereas consistent frameworks for animal groups are less developed. Here we suggest a framework for the study of the functional ecology of animals from a trait‐based response–effect approach, using dung beetles as model system. Dung beetles are a key group of decomposers that are important for many ecosystem processes. The lack of a trait‐based framework tailored to this group has limited the use of traits in dung beetle functional ecology. We review which dung beetle traits respond to the environment and affect ecosystem processes, covering the wide range of spatial, temporal and biological scales at which they are involved. Dung beetles show trait‐based responses to variation in temperature, water, soil properties, trophic resources, light, vegetation structure, competition, predation and parasitism. Dung beetles' influence on ecosystem processes includes trait‐mediated effects on nutrient cycling, bioturbation, plant growth, seed dispersal, other dung‐based organisms and parasite transmission, as well as some cases of pollination and predation. We identify 66 dung beetle traits that are either response or effect traits, or both, pertaining to six main categories: morphology, feeding, reproduction, physiology, activity and movement. Several traits pertain to more than one category, in particular dung relocation behaviour during nesting or feeding. We also identify 136 trait–response and 77 trait–effect relationships in dung beetles. No response to environmental stressors nor effect over ecological processes were related with traits of a single category. This highlights the interrelationship between the traits shaping body‐plans, the multi‐functionality of traits, and their role linking responses to the environment and effects on the ecosystem. Despite current developments in dung beetle functional ecology, many knowledge gaps remain, and there are biases towards certain traits, functions, taxonomic groups and regions. Our framework provides the foundations for the thorough development of trait‐based dung beetle ecology. It also serves as an example framework for other taxa

Dung removal increases under higher dung beetle functional diversity regardless of grazing intensification

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 of cattle-grazing intensification on dung removal by dung beetles in field experiments replicated in 38 pastures around the world. Within each study site, we measured dung removal in pastures managed with low- and high-intensity regimes to assess between-regime differences in dung beetle diversity and dung removal, whilst also considering climate and regional variations. The impacts of intensification were heterogeneous, either diminishing or increasing dung beetle species richness, functional diversity, and dung removal rates. The effects of beetle diversity on dung removal were more variable across sites than within sites. Dung removal increased with species richness across sites, while functional diversity consistently enhanced dung removal within sites, independently of cattle grazing intensity or climate. Our findings indicate that, despite intensified cattle stocking rates, ecosystem services related to decomposition and nutrient cycling can be maintained when a functionally diverse dung beetle community inhabits the human-modified landscape.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio