Dung beetles as hydrological engineers: effects of tunnelling on soil infiltration

1. Soil infiltration capacity determines the partitioning of precipitation into and overland flow is therefore an important soil hydrological characteristic. Water through facilitated by macropores created roots macrofauna. In clay-rich soils, such as those tropical forests Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, most occurs via these preferential pathways. 2. We evaluated effects dung beetle tunnelling on macropore creation (depth width pathways) in forest soils Sabah. Using mesocosms, we applied three treatments (i) soil-only, (ii) dung-only, (iii) + beetles, measured saturated hydraulic conductivity (i.e., steady-state rate) after 0, 5 10 days, assessed depth pathways applying a blue dye tracer. 3. The rate increased presence though differences among were only statistically significant days. After days presence, infiltrated water had reached greater than control mesocosms without beetles. However, there no treatments. 4. These results reveal important, but under studied roles beetles functioning, that may have consequences for nutrient cycling plant productivity. Further, our findings indicate novel application established method—blue tracer—can provide interesting reliable macrofauna–soil interaction studies.