Cattle farming is a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Recent research suggests that GHG fluxes from dung pats could be affected by biotic interactions involving dung beetles. Whether and how these effects vary among beetle species and with assemblage composition is yet to be established. To examine the link between GHGs and different dung beetle species assemblages, we used a closed cham...

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...

The coprophagous fauna associated with the mammals of Africa plays an important role in the recycling of nutrients and in the destruction of the habitat of many dung breeding flies [1], The failure of this process has been recorded in Australia where cattle were introduced without the associated insect fauna, resulting in the deteriora­ tion of the pastures [2] and the uncontrolled increase of ...

Insecticide treatment of cattle is an important method of tsetse control. However, insecticides applied to cattle have been shown to contaminate dung. This has a significant impact on insects using the dung as a resource, e.g. dung beetles. This reduces the recycling of dung and has a negative impact on productivity of pasture. However, applications of insecticide restricted to only the legs an...

Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) support numerous ecosystem functions in livestock-grazed pastures. Exposure to veterinary anthelmintic residues in livestock dung can have lethal and sublethal effects on dung beetles, and can reduce rates of dung removal, but the immediate and longer-term consequences for other dung beetle mediated functions have rarely been studied. We investigated the...

Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) play a major role in nutrient cycling, soil aeration, and the biological control of pests and parasites that breed in manure. Habitat fragmentation, pesticide usage, and conventional agricultural practices are threats to dung beetle diversity, and their conservation is of growing concern. Comparison of organic and conventional ranching practices is of gre...

To determine if dung from various species of native mammals are attractive to species of Scarabaeidae differentially in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand, we used pitfall traps baited with fresh dung of four species (barking deer, sambar deer, Asian elephant, pig-tailed macaque) and an unbaited control. The pitfalls were deployed in Khao Yai National Park for 24 hours in March 2010. All t...

Horse and cow dung were tested as substrates for oviposition by the stable fly Stomoxys calcitrans (L) (Diptera: Muscidae) in laboratory cages. Odour alone from either horse or cow dung was sufficient to attract flies for oviposition. This was confirmed in wind tunnel experiments, where both horse and cow dung were shown to attract gravid stable flies. However, when S. calcitrans was offered a ...