Variation in Dung Removal Rates by Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) in a Temperate, Dry Steppe Ecosystem

During their feeding process, dung beetles perform a series of ecosystem functions that provide valuable services, such as soil fertilization, improvement properties, plant growth enhancement, and biological pest control. However, in the grasslands Central Asian dry steppe, effects on removal remain almost unstudied. Here, we examined by different beetle species (Colobterus erraticus (Linnaeus, 1758), Onthophagus bivertex Heyden, 1887, gibbulus (Pallas, 1781), Gymnopleurus mopsus Cheironitis eumenes Motschulsky, 1859, Geotrupes koltzei Reitter, 1892), compared impacts with control treatments (without beetles) under natural pasture conditions laboratory. We influence variables rates, type traits (nesting strategies, abundance, body size, biomass). found higher rates during initial 48 h field laboratory conditions. Among nesting tunnellers demonstrated significantly than dweller roller species. The highest amount was estimated for C. (6.5 g/day seven individuals). no significant relationship between size or biomass, but observed strong negative correlation abundance rates. Our findings highlight importance age, strategies abundances beetles, experimental conditions, which are main factors driving process removal.