Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics

Studies comparing different land covers clearly show that land-use change commonly affects animal communities and the ecological functions they play in ecosystems. However, we lack a good understanding of the effects that more subtle changes, those occurring within a land cover type, can have on eco...

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Autores principales:	Raquel L. Carvalho, Ellen Andresen, Diego V. Anjos, Filipe França, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Brazilian savanna Dung removal Pasture management Soil bioturbation Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/22dbac6351204fbfa7ba7cddadc13d67
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:22dbac6351204fbfa7ba7cddadc13d672021-12-01T04:49:03ZDung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107598https://doaj.org/article/22dbac6351204fbfa7ba7cddadc13d672021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21002636https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XStudies comparing different land covers clearly show that land-use change commonly affects animal communities and the ecological functions they play in ecosystems. However, we lack a good understanding of the effects that more subtle changes, those occurring within a land cover type, can have on ecological functions of animals, and if these are also mediated by shifts in community attributes. We studied two important ecological functions of dung beetles in tropical planted pastures with exotic African grasses. Due to differences in management, pastures varied in grass cover, tree density, pasture age, cattle density, and in the application frequency of veterinary medical products. We sampled beetles and their functions in 24 sites to address two questions: (1) Do management variables known to strongly affect beetle communities also affect their functions?; (2) Are the dung beetle-mediated ecological functions of dung removal and soil excavation correlated, and are they influenced by community attributes? We found no influence of management variables on dung removal, while soil excavation was negatively affected by pasture age, but only weakly. Contrary to our expectations, no community attribute was correlated with either dung removal or soil excavation, but both functions were strongly and positively correlated with each other. Our results indicate that responses of dung beetle communities and their ecological functions to subtle changes within a land cover type, are decoupled, idiosyncratic and context-dependent, making predictions and generalizations difficult. We believe that there is a need of more studies investigating the effects of fine-scale changes within habitats to better understand the consequences of management decisions on ecological processes mediated by animals.Raquel L. CarvalhoEllen AndresenDiego V. AnjosFilipe FrançaHeraldo L. VasconcelosElsevierarticleBrazilian savannaDung removalPasture managementSoil bioturbationEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 125, Iss , Pp 107598- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Brazilian savanna Dung removal Pasture management Soil bioturbation Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Brazilian savanna Dung removal Pasture management Soil bioturbation Ecology QH540-549.5 Raquel L. Carvalho Ellen Andresen Diego V. Anjos Filipe França Heraldo L. Vasconcelos Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics
description	Studies comparing different land covers clearly show that land-use change commonly affects animal communities and the ecological functions they play in ecosystems. However, we lack a good understanding of the effects that more subtle changes, those occurring within a land cover type, can have on ecological functions of animals, and if these are also mediated by shifts in community attributes. We studied two important ecological functions of dung beetles in tropical planted pastures with exotic African grasses. Due to differences in management, pastures varied in grass cover, tree density, pasture age, cattle density, and in the application frequency of veterinary medical products. We sampled beetles and their functions in 24 sites to address two questions: (1) Do management variables known to strongly affect beetle communities also affect their functions?; (2) Are the dung beetle-mediated ecological functions of dung removal and soil excavation correlated, and are they influenced by community attributes? We found no influence of management variables on dung removal, while soil excavation was negatively affected by pasture age, but only weakly. Contrary to our expectations, no community attribute was correlated with either dung removal or soil excavation, but both functions were strongly and positively correlated with each other. Our results indicate that responses of dung beetle communities and their ecological functions to subtle changes within a land cover type, are decoupled, idiosyncratic and context-dependent, making predictions and generalizations difficult. We believe that there is a need of more studies investigating the effects of fine-scale changes within habitats to better understand the consequences of management decisions on ecological processes mediated by animals.
format	article
author	Raquel L. Carvalho Ellen Andresen Diego V. Anjos Filipe França Heraldo L. Vasconcelos
author_facet	Raquel L. Carvalho Ellen Andresen Diego V. Anjos Filipe França Heraldo L. Vasconcelos
author_sort	Raquel L. Carvalho
title	Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics
title_short	Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics
title_full	Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics
title_fullStr	Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics
title_full_unstemmed	Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics
title_sort	dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/22dbac6351204fbfa7ba7cddadc13d67
work_keys_str_mv	AT raquellcarvalho dungbeetlefunctionsintropicalplantedpastureswerebarelyexplainedbymanagementvariablesandnotatallbycommunitymetrics AT ellenandresen dungbeetlefunctionsintropicalplantedpastureswerebarelyexplainedbymanagementvariablesandnotatallbycommunitymetrics AT diegovanjos dungbeetlefunctionsintropicalplantedpastureswerebarelyexplainedbymanagementvariablesandnotatallbycommunitymetrics AT filipefranca dungbeetlefunctionsintropicalplantedpastureswerebarelyexplainedbymanagementvariablesandnotatallbycommunitymetrics AT heraldolvasconcelos dungbeetlefunctionsintropicalplantedpastureswerebarelyexplainedbymanagementvariablesandnotatallbycommunitymetrics
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Dung beetle functions in tropical planted pastures were barely explained by management variables and not at all by community metrics

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