What is it about?
This article documents the development of three dung beetle species at different temperatures, and identifies the minimum temperature required for each to complete its egg-adult development. This information is subsequently used to develop degree-day models for each of the three species.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The novelty of the study is that it provides the first such information for O. nuchicornis and the most extensive such information for O. taurus and D. gazella. The novelty is further expanded by use of field cages studies to test some of the findings in the lab. This information is used in a subsequent paper to predict where in North America, these three European species might eventually establish. All three species currently are present in North America and contribute to the acceleration of cattle dung on pastures. Acceleration of cattle dung helps maintain pasture productivity.
Perspectives
To my mind, this was an elegant study with a number of novel features. Using a special piece of apparatus, we examined development at 2 degree increments from 10 to 32 oC. We then tested predictions (from the lab study) regarding the likelihood of overwintering survival in southern Alberta, Canada using field cages. O. nuchicornis is already established in our area (southern Alberta, Canada) and served as a positive control. D. gazella is an Afro-Asian species that we used as a negative control (not expected to overwinter in Alberta). Our real interest was in O. taurus, which does not to our knowledge occur in Canada, but we have reason to think that it might eventually establish in the country. Combined with our field cage study, we collected soil temperatures at different months over the course of a year. We compared our soil temperature data with soil temperature data from a site in northern Michigan where O. taurus recently has been recorded. We then used the two data sets as a way to independently test the field cage results and speculate on the likelihood of O. taurus establishing in southern Alberta.
Kevin Floate
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Degree-day models for development of the dung beetlesOnthophagus nuchicornis,O. taurus, andDigitonthophagus gazella(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), and the likelihood ofO. taurusestablishment in southern Alberta, Canada, The Canadian Entomologist, November 2014, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.4039/tce.2014.70.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
