Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Dung removal increases under higher dung beetle...

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Dung removal increases under higher dung beetle functional diversity regardless of grazing intensification

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
  • Jorge Ari Noriega
  • Joaquín Hortal
  • Indradatta deCastro-Arrazola
  • Fernanda Alves-Martins
  • Candelaria Ortega-Echeverría
  • Luis Mauricio Bini
  • Nigel R. Andrew
  • Lucrecia Arellano
  • Sarah Beynon
  • Adrian L. V. Davis
  • Mario E. Favila
  • Kevin D. Floate
  • Finbarr G. Horgan
  • Tanja Milotic
  • Beatrice Nervo
  • Claudia Palestrini
  • Antonio Rolando
  • Clarke H. Scholtz
  • Yakup Senyüz
  • Thomas Wassmer
  • Réka Ádam
  • Cristina de O. Araújo
  • José Luis Barragan-Ramírez
  • Gergely Boros
  • Edgar Camero-Rubio
  • Melvin Cruz
  • Eva Cuesta
  • Miryam Pieri Damborsky
  • Christian M. Deschodt
  • Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan
  • Bram D’hondt
  • Alfonso Díaz Rojas
  • Kemal Dindar
  • Federico Escobar
  • Verónica R. Espinoza
  • José Rafael Ferrer-Paris
  • Pablo Enrique Gutiérrez Rojas
  • Zac Hemmings
  • Benjamín Hernández
  • Sarah J. Hill
  • Maurice Hoffmann
  • Pierre Jay-Robert
  • Kyle Lewis
  • Megan Lewis
  • Cecilia Lozano
  • Diego Marín-Armijos
  • Patrícia Menegaz de Farias
  • Betselene Murcia-Ordoñez
  • Seena Narayanan Karimbumkara
  • José Luis Navarrete-Heredia
  • Candelaria Ortega-Echeverría
  • José D. Pablo-Cea
  • William Perrin
  • Marcelo Bruno Pessoa
  • Anu Radhakrishnan
  • Iraj Rahimi
  • Amalia Teresa Raimundo
  • Diana Catalina Ramos
  • Ramón E. Rebolledo
  • Angela Roggero
  • Ada Sánchez-Mercado
  • László Somay
  • Jutta Stadler
  • Pejman Tahmasebi
  • José Darwin Triana Céspedes
  • Ana M. C. Santos
Close
Article number8070
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>6/12/2023
<mark>Journal</mark>Nature Communications
Issue number1
Volume14
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Dung removal by macrofauna such as dung beetles is an important process for nutrient cycling in pasturelands. Intensification of farming practices generally reduces species and functional diversity of terrestrial invertebrates, which may negatively affect ecosystem services. Here, we investigate the effects of cattle-grazing intensification on dung removal by dung beetles in field experiments replicated in 38 pastures around the world. Within each study site, we measured dung removal in pastures managed with low- and high-intensity regimes to assess between-regime differences in dung beetle diversity and dung removal, whilst also considering climate and regional variations. The impacts of intensification were heterogeneous, either diminishing or increasing dung beetle species richness, functional diversity, and dung removal rates. The effects of beetle diversity on dung removal were more variable across sites than within sites. Dung removal increased with species richness across sites, while functional diversity consistently enhanced dung removal within sites, independently of cattle grazing intensity or climate. Our findings indicate that, despite intensified cattle stocking rates, ecosystem services related to decomposition and nutrient cycling can be maintained when a functionally diverse dung beetle community inhabits the human-modified landscape.