The insecticidal properties of many anthelmintics pose a risk to dung fauna through the effects of drug residues in dung on the activity, oviposition and development of dung-dwelling invertebrates. Reductions in dung fauna numbers can inhibit dung degradation, which may impact biodiversity and nutrient cycling on farms. A simulation model was created to predict the impact of antiparasitic drugs...

Saprophytic and corprophilous fungal flora on dung samples of different hybrid cow in Lawspet area of puducherry, India was studied by moist chamber method during 2014-15. During the isolation and identification of fungi from hybrid cow dung samples, 16 species under 7 genera of hyphomycetous fungi were isolated with 44 isolates from the dung samples. Aspergilli and penicilli were dominated amo...

The study of seed fate is crucial for understanding fruit–frugivore interactions. One factor that can greatly influence the fate of seeds dispersed through mammal defecation, is the dung that accompanies the seeds. Dung attracts dung beetles and rodents; the former eat and bury dung, the latter feed on seeds. In this study the fate of Micropholis guyanensis subsp. guyanensis seeds surrounded by...

Dung beetles belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, and are mostly within the subfamilies of Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae. They are given their name because they feed partially or exclusively on feces. Each species of dung beetles can be classified as one of several types: rollers, tunnelers and dwellers. Rollers roll the dung into round balls, which are then used for brooding chambers or as a...

Agricultural expansion and intensification are major threats to global biodiversity, ecological functions, and ecosystem services. The rapid expansion of oil palm in forested tropical landscapes is of particular concern given their high biodiversity. Identifying management approaches that maintain native species and associated ecological processes within oil palm plantations is therefore a prio...

Agriculture is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs), with dairy and beef production accounting for nearly two-thirds of emissions. Several recent papers suggest that dung beetles may affect fluxes of GHGs from cattle farming. Here, we put these previous findings into context. Using Finland as an example, we assessed GHG emissions at three scales: the dung pat, pas...

UNLABELLED The dung beetle E. intermedius, a member of the highly diverse order, Coleoptera has immense economic benefits. It was estimated that insect ecological services in the United States amounted to some $60 billion in 2006 with dung beetles being major contributors. E. intermedius may be endowed with a robust immune system given its microbe-rich habitat. Dung beetles live on juice and mi...

To investigate the effect of sheep dung on soil carbon (C) sequestration, a 152 days incubation experiment was conducted with soils from two different Inner Mongolian grasslands, i.e. a Leymus chinensis dominated grassland representing the climax community (2.1% organic matter content) and a heavily degraded Artemisia frigida dominated community (1.3% organic matter content). Dung was collected...

Agriculture is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs), with dairy and beef production accounting for nearly two-thirds of emissions. Several recent papers suggest that dung beetles may affect fluxes of GHGs from cattle farming. Here, we put these previous findings into context. Using Finland as an example, we assessed GHG emissions at three scales: the dung pat, pas...

Understanding of the role of body mass in structural-functional relationships is pressing, particularly because species losses often occur non-randomly with respect to body size. Our study examined the effects of dung beetle body mass on dung removal at two levels. First, we used the lab experiment to evaluate the efficiency of eight dung beetle species belonging to two functional groups (tunne...