What is it about?
We used dung-baited pitfall traps to characterize the diversity and relative abundance of dung beetles associated with cattle dung on native grassland pastures in Alberta, Canada.
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Why is it important?
Most of the dung beetle species in cattle dung in Canada are of European origin. Some species continue to expand their distributions. Our study provides baseline data on what is present currently, for comparison in future years. The data is particularly rigorous, having been collected across three years at multiple sites. Results help identify the potential for different species to affect dung degradation, a process affecting nutrient flows in pasture ecosystems.
Perspectives
With native grasslands a vanishing habitat across North America, these types of studies provide insight into what species of beetles might have been associated in bison dung. It also provides insight into how native species might be displaced by European species.
Kevin Floate
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) associated with cattle dung on native grasslands of southern Alberta, Canada, The Canadian Entomologist, September 2013, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.4039/tce.2013.50.
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